• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

Balkan Nation Is North Macedonia Now

by DC Editors - February 14, 2019

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin
Balkan Nation Is North Macedonia Now
The national flag of North Macedonia – Image source

From Voice of America

Enter North Macedonia.

The small Balkan country of Macedonia officially changed its name Tuesday by adding a geographic designation that ends a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece and secures its entry into NATO.

A government press release said the young country now is formally called the Republic of North Macedonia. A series of practical adjustments — ranging from new road signs to updated passports and currency — will be made gradually, and started with the government website late Tuesday.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said his country would press ahead with all the changes needed to fulfill its end of the historic deal he reached with the prime minister of Greece last year.

“At the end of the day we must show that we are implementing our part of the obligations,” he said. “I believe that all institutions are ready to act.”

Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the move followed a final exchange of diplomatic notes with Greece.

“May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia,” he said in a tweet. “We can’t change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation.”

The name change resolves a dispute with Greece dating back to Macedonia’s declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Athens had long argued that its small, landlocked neighbor’s name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and on ancient Greek cultural heritage.

Although more than 130 countries formally had recognized the country as Macedonia, the United Nations and other international bodies used the “Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia,” the cumbersome moniker Greece and Macedonia settled on for an interim accord in 1995.

A breakthrough in their name dispute came last summer when Zaev and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to a compromise under which Greece also lifted its objections to Macedonia joining NATO and the European Union.

Despite opposition on either side of the border, the deal was ratified by both parliaments.

North Macedonia’s deputy foreign minister, Andrej Zernovski, told local Telma TV that authorities would change, within three days, road signs at border crossings, airports and customs checkpoints.

Within four months, the Interior Ministry will start issuing new car license plates with the abbreviation NMK, while new passports will be issued at the end of this year, Zernovski said.

The country plans to give the U.N. and its member states formal notice of the name change within days, he said.

A government press release said that changes will also be made to notice boards at airports, while the country’s central bank will draft plans for replacing the circulating currency with the old one-word name.

Earlier Tuesday, Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building, as more member nations approved making it the alliance’s 30th member.

Speaking at a ceremony in the capital of Skopje, Zaev said the country had achieved a “historic goal” in being accepted into NATO.

All of NATO’s 29 current members must ratify the accession agreement. Slovenia on Tuesday became the second country to do so after Greece, which made the move last week.

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: International Democracy Tagged With: Balkan Nations, Europe, Greece

About DC Editors

We are your source for news on the all important effort to establish and strengthen democracy across the globe. Our international team with dozens of independent authors are your gateway into the raging struggle for free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States. See our Facebook Page and also follow us on Twitter @demchron.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | ALL NEWS | WORLD | Balkan Nation Is North Macedonia Now

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

The Christian Evangelical Church

By Jack Jones January 22, 2023

I am not against Big Business having a voice, just not all the voices, and especially not an impersonator pretending to speak for God.

No One In Monterey County Is Good Enough To Serve In Legislature

By Joe Mathews January 9, 2023

California’s “democratic reforms” have left a place as… [key] as Monterey County without any state representation from one of its own.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

In America, the Joe-mocracy Rules

By Joe Mathews December 27, 2022

A republic? A democracy? No, our country is an avuncular autocracy run by old guys named joe.

Property Rights, Indiana-Style

By Andrew Straw December 24, 2022

Indiana’s justices have replaced constitutional property rights with ad hominem politics. Replacing them starts with better governors.

To The American Oligarchs: Lay Off Us

By Jack Jones December 21, 2022

No matter how many jobs are ruthlessly pulled out from under us, we are still going to do what it takes to put food on the table.

Indiana’s Irrational Ballot Access System

By Andrew Straw December 4, 2022

Opposing the potential 2024 retention of the Chief Justice Loretta Rush will be key to preventing disability discrimination bad blood in Indiana courts.

Federal Judge Strikes Down Biden’s Loan Forgiveness program

By Jack Jones November 24, 2022

What is unlawful is the Texas federal judge’s decision to strike down President Biden’s loan forgiveness program, not the program itself.

DeSantis Battles Trump in Florida Steel Cage Match

By Steve Schneider November 20, 2022

We take you now to the much-anticipated DeSantis-Trump steel cage match, in which “DeSanctimonious” has promised to “kick Trump’s ass.”

Why Gambling Can’t Really Lose In California

By Joe Mathews November 2, 2022

When state voters approved an expansion of casino gaming, gaming interests assured us that gambling here would be governed by strict limits.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

Girl Scouts Earn Democracy Badge At Workshop In Salina

Girl Scouts Earn Democracy Badge At Workshop In Salina

January 26, 2023

The workshop assisted Girl Scouts in grades K–10 in earning their Democracy Badge through learning activities on democracy.

Study: Media Can Reduce Polarization By Telling Personal Stories

Study: Media Can Reduce Polarization By Telling Personal Stories

January 26, 2023

Sharing personal experiences and pairing them with facts reduces political dehumanization and increases political tolerance.

Study: 2020 Election Resulted In Increased Anxiety And Depression

Study: 2020 Election Resulted In Increased Anxiety And Depression

January 7, 2023

A review of 2020 Household Pulse Survey data reveals that as an election nears, people in [America] report more depression and anxiety.

Key Iran Labor Sectors Launch Major Strikes

Charlie Hebdo Caricatures Iran’s Mullahs

January 7, 2023

The satirical weekly is publishing a special issue on Wednesday, January 4, mocking Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in support of the protests…

First Impressions Are Strongly Influenced By Political Partisanship

First Impressions Are Strongly Influenced By Political Partisanship

December 22, 2022

How we perceive strangers or the impressions we have about them, particularly their faces, is influenced by political partisanship.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy