By Furkan Naci Top
FLORINA, Greece (AA) – Greece and its northern neighbor on Sunday signed a historic accord, which proposed renaming of Macedonia, to end a long-standing dispute between the two countries.
The Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov inked deal at a ceremony held in Macedonian Psarades village at Greece-Macedonia border.
The deal proposes changing Macedonia's name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia and will enable Greece to lift its veto on Macedonia's EU and NATO accession.
The signing ceremony saw the attendance of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev, as well as EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn, and the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy Matthew Nimetz.
Greece, which is both a NATO and EU member, has long opposed to the official name of its neighboring country, arguing that it has a region by the same name in the north of the country.
The dispute has been one of the main obstacles for Macedonia’s ambitions to join the NATO and the EU, due to the veto right of Greece.
The negotiations between Macedonia and Greece had recently stepped up, as the new government in Skopje has sought progress in its bid to join the NATO and the EU.
The deal still needs to be approved by Macedonia's parliament and confirmed in a Macedonian referendum.
Despite the dispute between Athens and Skopje, many countries including Turkey recognize the country as Macedonia.
