NATO Chief Urges Macedonia to End Name Dispute

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Macedonian leaders in Skopje that the key condition for joining the alliance was solving the long-standing dispute with Greece over its name.

He was meeting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and other leaders in Skopje on a regional tour aimed at underlining support for Balkan countries.

“NATO’s door is open. As we agreed at the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008, you will receive an invitation to NATO once a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue is found,” the Secretary General said. “So I urge you to continue your efforts to strive for a solution. The time is now.”

At the joint press with Gruevski, Rasmussen said NATO appreciated Macedonia's participation in peacekeeping missions, but that the country now needed to take “tough decisions" and show "bravery” if it wished to join NATO.

Prime Minister Gruevski told his guest that he wished to see his country as a full NATO member.

“Macedonia has the same main interest [in joining NATO] and the name dispute is the only obstacle to the Euro-Atlantic integration of Macedonia,” Gruevski said.

Greece, a NATO member country with a right of veto, blocked Macedonia's NATO accession in 2008.  

Greece insists that Macedonia’s name implies territorial claims to its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

Macedonia's progress in the EU is also blocked for the same reasons, although it obtained EU candidate status back in December 2005 and although European Commission reports have recommended a start to membership talks each year since 2009.

The NATO chief's visit comes ahead of the NATO summit in September in Cardiff where it is unclear whether there will be much...