WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 8, 2019 / 10:24 PM / 2 DAYS AGO
Lefteris Papadimas, George Georgiopoulos
3 MIN READ
ATHENS (Reuters) - After holding up its admission for years, Greece became the first nation on Friday to ratify Macedonia’s membership of NATO after the two states resolved a decades-old name dispute last month.
NATO members signed the accord with Macedonia this week, days after the Greek parliament endorsed an agreement between Athens and Skopje that changes Macedonia’s name to North Macedonia.
Staring down strong domestic opposition from Greeks worried the Balkan neighbor was appropriating Greek heritage, the government of leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pushed the name change through parliament on Jan. 25