Greece to ratify Macedonia’s NATO membership this week – speaker

Greece is set to ratify Macedonia’s accession agreement with NATO this week after the two countries reached a historic agreement to normalize relations. Greek parliamentary speaker Nikos Voutsis said in Athens that a ratification bill would be submitted on Thursday and voted on Friday. The alliance’s 29 members plan to sign Macedonia’s accession protocol on Wednesday. It must then be ratified by each country individually before taking effect, AP reports. Alexis Tsipras’ government in Greece was threatened with collapse over the agreement that will see the country’s neighbor change its name to North Macedonia before NATO accession is finalized. Greece blocked Macedonia’s NATO membership for a decade over a name dispute.