During the live stream of the signing of the Macedonian NATO accession protocol, NATO used to Macedonian flag to avoid referring to the language of the country as “Macedonian”.

Viewers accessing the live stream were able to choose to listen in English, French, and even Russian. The three languages were clearly named and offered. But another option, to listen to the Macedonian translation, was labeled with the flag only. Greece rejects the labeling of the Macedonian language under its name, even though the treaty Prime Ministers Zaev and Tsipras signed was supposed to allow Macedonians to use that name for the language. Meanwhile Bulgaria rejects the existence of the Macedonian language as separate from the Bulgarian.

During the press conference, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was at odds how to refer to the future member. He intermittently used “Skopje”, “their country” and even the “future Republic of North Macedonia”.