“We have started our journey as members of the Vilnius Ten Group and continued to work very closely together ever since. I would like to stress that North Macedonia has been actively involved in NATO operations throughout the whole period,” said Linas Antanas Linkevičius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and called upon the MPs to support the draft law.
The Law on the Ratification of the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of Macedonia (draft No XIIIP-3256(2) was unanimously approved by 92 Members of the Seimas.
Having observed the ratification procedure, Mr Talat Xhaferi, President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, thanked the Members of the Seimas stressing that the decision of the Lithuanian parliamentarians was important to all the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia.
“We have a clear goal in front of us and we know what we want to achieve: we want to fulfil our already adopted strategic goal of becoming a full-fledged member of NATO and the EU. This means building a true democratic state with the rule of law and functioning institutions in the service of citizens,” said the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia.
The Accession Protocol will enter into force once all the parties to the Treaty approve it in accordance with their national procedures. Lithuania has become the 7th member of NATO to have ratified the Protocol.
The Accession Protocol is concluded in accordance with Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, based on which “the Parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty.” The Accession Protocol anchors the “unanimous agreement”: the Secretary-General of NATO is hereby authorised to lodge, on behalf of all the parties to the Treaty, the formal invitation to the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia to accede to the Treaty. It is only in receipt of this formal invitation that the Republic of North Macedonia will be able to carry out the appropriate legal procedures necessary for the accession to the Treaty and thus become a full-fledged member of NATO.
