Macedonia’s parliament has approved the language of a draft constitutional amendment on the country’s name change, clearing another barrier toward resolving a long-standing dispute with Greece and putting the Balkan country on a path to join NATO.
The vote late on December 3 by the parliament in Skopje was on the language of a draft amendment to change the name of the former Yugoslav republic to the Republic of Northern Macedonia.
The draft was passed 67-23 with four abstentions.
A simple majority was all that was needed, for now, to advance the draft amendment to the next stage of the process – a vote expected in January on whether the amendment should be adopted.
A two-thirds majority of all 120 lawmakers in parliament is required to change Macedonia’s constitution.