Croatian Parliament ratified North Macedonia's NATO accession application with 116 lawmakers voting in favour and two against. The recently renamed North Macedonia is expected to become the 30th member of the military alliance, pending approval of all of alliance's 29 member countries' legislation.

Croatia had joined NATO in April 2009, as only the second ex-Yugoslav country in the alliance, after Slovenia which joined in 2004. Montenegro also joined in 2017, with Macedonia expected to become the fourth former Yugoslav republic to become member of NATO.

A delegation of Macedonian state officials attended the Parliament session in Zagreb, and after the vote Parliament Speaker, Gordan Jandrokovic (HDZ) congratulated them on this achievement.

Earlier this month, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Slovenia all formally approved North Macedonia’s NATO membership bid, which was made possible by the historic Prespa Agreement signed by Athens and Skopje in June 2018. The agreement resolved a decades-long naming dispute between the two Balkan neighbours, leading Greece to lift its veto on North Macedonia’s EU and NATO membership bids.

Jandrokovic added that Croatia “will continue supporting Macedonia on its journey towards the European Union”.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.