The Macedonian Parliament voted with 114 votes in favor to ratify the NATO accession protocol. Members of Parliament and high level guests were gathered for the ratification, that was approved by all political parties. Macedonia went ahead and ratified the protocol without waiting on Spain, which is the last NATO member state that still hasn’t done so.

NATO representatives, members of the diplomatic corps and opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski are in attendance as the protocol is about to be put to the floor.

The ratification interrupted the tense debate over the proposed PPO law on state prosecutors, which the Zaev regime hopes will solidify its control over the judiciary. Both were expected to be adopted before the Parliament dissolves to make way for the early elections. It is expected it will dissolve tomorrow, although Zaev’s insistence that the PPO law is adopted by this Parliament may lead to attempts to postpone the dissolution.

Under the NATO ratification ceremony, the Alliance flag was be raised in front of the Parliament. Customarily, the candidate country waits until all the member states ratify the protocol before doing so herself, but due to the political crisis in Spain and the delays there, Macedonian politicians decided not to postpone the NATO accession on their part and go ahead with the vote.

Macedonia was blocked from joining NATO by Greece, which vetoed Macedonia’s accession at the 2008 Bucharest summit. The blockade lasted until the imposed Prespa treaty, which aims to rename Macedonia into “North Macedonia”. Even after today’s ratification, Macedonia is not yet a NATO member state – this will have to wait until Spain completes the ratification process.