{"id":39530,"date":"2018-07-11T17:30:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/11\/macedonia-formally-welcomed-by-nato-but-with-a-warning\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:09:22","slug":"macedonia-formally-welcomed-by-nato-but-with-a-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nato-priorities\/2018\/07\/11\/macedonia-formally-welcomed-by-nato-but-with-a-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"Macedonia formally welcomed by NATO \u2013 but with a warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 NATO on Wednesday formally invited Macedonia to begin the process of becoming the 30th member of the alliance \u2013 but with a strict warning that internal politics could scuttle any agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNATO\u2019s door is, and will remain, open,\u201d NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced following the first day of the Brussels Summit<\/a>. \u201cToday we agreed to invite the government of Skopje to start ascension talks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce all national procedures have been completed to finalize the name agreement, the country will join NATO as our 30th member,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may be easier said than done, however. Greece has held up Macedonia\u2019s requests to join NATO and the EU for decades, as part of a demand that its northern neighbor change or modify its name to avoid any claim to the territory and ancient heritage of the region in northern Greece named Macedonia \u2014 birthplace of ancient warrior king Alexander the Great.<\/p>\n\n\n\t