After a blow from the European Union, Skopje received good news from Washington – the US Senate voted 91 for and two against North Macedonia’s full NATO membership late on Tuesday, the Beta news agency reported, paving the way for the country to join the Alliance in December at NATO summit in London.

The EU, thanks to France, did not set a date for the opening of the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, breaking the bloc’s promise to Skopje after it made a deal with Athens over the country’s name.

North Macedonia signed a protocol on joining NATO with its member states in February, following the deal agreed in June 2018 after 27 years long dispute during which Athens had blocked Skopje saying its name Macedonia implied territorial claims against the Greek province of the same name.