North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

is a member state of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(NATO). In 1995, the country joined the

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; ) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 18 states are ...

. It then began taking part in various NATO missions, including the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

and the

Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Dece ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. At the

2008 Bucharest summit The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 21st NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

vetoed the country's invitation to join; however,

NATO member states The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international military alliance consisting of 32 member states from Europe and North America. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Of the 32 member c ...

agreed that the country would receive an invitation upon resolution of the

Macedonia naming dispute The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...

. Following an agreement in June 2018 to rename the country, representatives of NATO member states signed a protocol on the accession of North Macedonia to NATO on 6 February 2019. Over the next thirteen months, all of NATO's 29 member states ratified the protocol. The accession protocol entered into force on 19 March 2020, allowing North Macedonia to deposit its instrument of accession and thereby become NATO's 30th member state on 27 March 2020.

History

The then-Republic of Macedonia joined the

in 1995 and commenced its

Membership Action Plan NATO is a military alliance of thirty-two European and North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows for the ...

in 1999 at the Washington Summit, at the same time as eight other countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia). Macedonia was part of the

Vilnius Group The Vilnius Group was an organization of NATO aspirant countries, created in May 2000, aimed at practical cooperation, exchange of information and lobbying for their candidacy in the NATO capitals. As motto of the Vilnius group was chosen: :''Wh ...

and formed the

Adriatic Charter The Adriatic Charter is an association formed by Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and the United States for the purpose of aiding their attempts to join NATO. History The Adriatic Charter was signed on 2 May 2003 in Tirana under the aegis of th ...

with Croatia and Albania in 2003 to better coordinate NATO accession. Participating in the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo, it received aid from NATO in dealing with refugees fleeing from

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. In August 2001, NATO intervened in the 2001 insurgency, during which an Albanian group, the National Liberation Army, fought government forces. In

Operation Essential Harvest Operation Essential Harvest (or Task Force Harvest) was a deployment mission in the Republic of Macedonia by NATO, officially launched on August 22, 2001, and effectively started on August 27. Because national contributions were larger than expecte ...

, NATO troops joined with the Macedonian military to disarm these forces following a cease-fire agreement. At the

2008 Bucharest summit The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 21st NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.

vetoed the Republic of Macedonia's invitation to join over the

, however, NATO nations agreed that the country would receive an invitation upon resolution of the disagreement. Greece felt that its neighbour's constitutional name implies territorial aspirations against its own region of Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia sued Greece in the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

over their veto of Macedonia's NATO membership, citing their 1995 interim accord that allowed Macedonia to join international organizations under the name "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", which is how NATO, with the exception of Turkey, recognized their bid. Greece counterargued that it was a collective decision of NATO not to invite the Republic of Macedonia, and therefore the interim accord signed between the two countries was not violated. The ICJ ruled in December 2011 that Greece was wrong to have blocked its neighbor's bid, finding them in breach of the agreement. Greece also blocked the Republic of Macedonia's start of negotiations on accession to the European Union over the naming dispute. Then–

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

asked the Republic of Macedonia and Greece to find an "acceptable solution" to the dispute, so that the Republic of Macedonia would be free to join NATO. In 2014, prior to the 65th anniversary of its founding, NATO announced that it would not be offering any new countries membership in the organisation that year. Some analysts, such as Jorge Benitez of the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

think tank, argued that this reluctance was partly due to the new security climate after

Russia's annexation of Crimea Annexation of Crimea may refer to: * Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire (1783) *Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, a ...

. There has been continued debate about how Russia will view the republic's accession. In March 2016, Macedonian Defense Minister

Zoran Jolevski Zoran Jolevski (; born 16 July 1959) is a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian diplomacy, diplomat and the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Defense, he served as Macedonia's Ambas ...

stated his hope that his country's handling of the

2015 European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request asylum, the most in a single ...

might bring it closer to NATO membership. On 12 June 2017, Prime Minister

Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev (, ; born 8 October 1974) is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022. Prior to entering politics, he ran a privat ...

signaled he would consider alternative names for the country in order to strike a compromise with Greece, settle the naming dispute, and lift Greek objections to Macedonia joining the alliance. Zaev also floated the idea of Macedonia joining the alliance under the provisional name it used at the United Nations. The naming dispute was resolved with the

Prespa Agreement Prespa (, , ) is a region shared between North Macedonia, Greece and Albania. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen in North Macedonia with 9,000 inhabitan ...

in June 2018 under which the country adopted the name North Macedonia, which was supported by a referendum in September 2018. On 11 July 2018, NATO invited the republic to begin membership talks, saying the country could join the organisation once the naming agreement had been implemented. Formal accession talks began on 18 October 2018. On 6 February 2019, the permanent representatives to NATO of the member states signed a protocol on the accession of North Macedonia to NATO. North Macedonia Joins NATO

Macedonian Prime Minister

, speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. Since 2025, he has been the Minister of Finance in the Støre Cabinet. He has previously been the prime minister of Norway and secretary general of NATO. ...

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

on 3 June 2019, said that he expected the ratification process to be finalised by the end of October. By that time North Macedonia was expected to join NATO in early 2020, with the alliance publicly reassuring the country its accession would go ahead. North Macedonia was given a seat at the 2019 London summit alongside other NATO members and was represented by a delegation headed by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. On 11 February 2020, the Macedonian

Sobranie Sobranie is a brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco. History The Balkan Sobranie tobacco business was established in London in 1879 by Albert Weinberg (born in Principality of T ...

unanimously approved the

North Atlantic Treaty The North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. Background The treat ...

, with 114 votes in favour, no abstentions and no opposition. Due to its political crisis, Spain was the last country to ratify the accession protocol, which it did on 19 March 2020. North Macedonia subsequently signed the instrument of accession and became a member state on 27 March 2020. On 9 December 2021, a ceremony was held at

Skopje Airport Skopje International Airport (, ) , also known as Skopje Airport (, ) and Petrovec Airport is the larger and busier of the two international airports in North Macedonia, with the other being the Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport, St. Paul the A ...

to mark the inclusion of North Macedonia in the NATO Air Policing system. The country acceded to the NATO Ottawa Agreement on 2 June 2022.

Accession

Negotiation progress

Ratification process

Note

Public opinion

Anti NATO sentiment graffiti in Macedonia 2018

During the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

of 1999, the Macedonian government maintained a pro-NATO position.. A majority of the population of the Republic of Macedonia criticised the government stance and opposed NATO intervention in Kosovo due to fears over

irredentism Irredentism () is one State (polity), state's desire to Annexation, annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by Ethnicity, ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the ...

from ethnic Albanians within the country, the unstable economy, disruption of trade brought about by war, and Slavic solidarity with Serbs. Prime Minister

Ljubčo Georgievski Ljubčo Georgievski (, ; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Macedonian politician and writer who served as the only Vice President of Macedonia from January to October 1991 and as the Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1998 to 2002. He advocated for th ...

stated during the war that anti-NATO sentiment was the "second biggest threat" to the country after the arrival of Albanian refugees from Kosovo. The country's Albanian population supported NATO and its intervention to assist the Albanians of Kosovo. In 2008, a poll following the NATO summit showed that 82.5% of ethnic Macedonian citizens opposed changing their country's constitutional name in order to join NATO. NATO membership in general in 2008 was supported by 85.2% of the population. Elections were called following the 2008 summit, resulting in further support for the center-right pro-NATO party,

VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

. The elections were marred by violence that attracted criticism from NATO members. In a statewide 2010 survey, 80.02% of respondents said they would vote for the Republic of Macedonia to become part of NATO if a referendum on accession were to take place. In another survey, some 65% of ethnic Macedonians expressed that they opposed a name change of the state as being the price for NATO membership. In a 2016 poll, some 68% of ethnic Macedonians supported joining NATO, possibly under the FYROM name. Albanians of North Macedonia harbour strongly pro-NATO sentiments. "the Albanian community, which is traditionally strongly pro-NATO and EU."

North Macedonia's foreign relations with NATO member states

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

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Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

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Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:North Macedonia - Nato relations

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

North Macedonia and NATO