Macedonian Parliament voted on the State Election Commission (DIK) on Wednesday and tasked it with conducting a referendum on the country’s name, the Belgrade-based Beta news agency reported.

The Commission was elected by 100 MPs in a 120-seat parliament without a debate.

The vote is a result of an agreement among four main political parties, both ruling and opposition, including the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE which holds 51 seats in parliament and whose leader Hristijan Mickoski said on Tuesday they would not support the vote.

The election of the DIK ended a deadlock in which the parliament found itself due to the VMRO-DPMNE refusal to accept the deal on the new country name. The new name – Republic of North Macedonia – was agreed with Greece in June, ending a 27-year-old dispute that had prevented Skopje from making progress in its ambition to join the European Union and NATO.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev earlier said the parliament would decide to call the referendum by July 30, so that the vote could take place on September 30.

Earlier on Wednesday, Macedonia formally started accession talks with NATO, following the alliance’s formal invitation at its summit in Brussels on July 12.

The NATO delegation headed by the alliance’s Euro-Atlantic and Global Partnership boss James Mackey arrived in Skopje where he told reporters he expected the former Yugoslav republic to join NATO in about 18 months.

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