Spanish Hold-Up Delays North Macedonia's Full NATO Membership

The Western military alliance is flying the Macedonian flag at its jubilee summit in London, although hold-ups in Spain have prevented the Balkan country from becoming a fully-fledged member yet.

North Macedonia’s Defence Minister Radmila Shekerinska (left) welcomes NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to Skopje in January 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOMISLAV GEORGIEV.

North Macedonia will have a seat at the London summit on Tuesday and Wednesday although Spain remains the only NATO member that has not ratified the treaty enabling the Balkan state to become a full member.

However, this is not seen by Skopje as a likely long-term obstacle to joining the alliance, as the document is already before the Spanish parliament.

Though not yet a full NATO member, North Macedonia will have a seat at the London summit alongside the member states, and the final declaration plans to “welcome” the Balkan state as its 30th member soon.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to BIRN’s question about whether and when it might ratify the protocol. The government in Skopje hopes this will happen in the first few months of 2020 – but the uncertainty has already created problems.

While waiting for Spain, North Macedonia will be represented at the alliance summit in London with a delegation led by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Defence Minister Radmila Shekerinska and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov.

Ahead of the NATO summit, North Macedonia’s flag was flown in London on Monday alongside those of all 29 member countries, prompting Shekerinska to write on Facebook that she was “feeling proud”.

NATO signed an accession protocol with North Macedonia in February, after the country last year struck a historic deal with neighbouring Greece over their long-standing name dispute. Greece then ended its blockade on North Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration processes.

A political analyst at Spanish daily El País, Daniel Gascon, told BIRN on Tuesday that it is very hard to predict when, if at all, a new government in Madrid can be formed.

“Spanish politics is full of surprises lately. Today it seems difficult to think we’ll have a government before the end of the year, but this might change. Podemos and PSOE couldn’t agree [on a government alliance] in six months, and then after the new elections they did so in less than 48 hours,” he said.

Although the political players appear tired of more elections, they could be called in Spring if all talks for a new government fail, he added.

“Today the MPs [in the Spanish parliament] took their seats. Once there’s a vote to choose the prime minister, if it fails, there are two months to try other options… And if this fails too, parliament would be dissolved and we’d have new elections,” Gascon said.

Since then, 28 NATO member states have ratified the accession protocol in their parliaments. The only hold-up has been in Spain, which has been gripped by a prolonged political crisis leaving it unable to form a new government.

Spain last month held its fourth general elections in the past four years – the second polls this year.

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, PSOE, together with its coalition partners, the left-wing Podemos party, for now, controls 155 deputies in the 350-seat parliament, short of the necessary minimum of 176 for a simple majority and a new government.

North Macedonia meanwhile has early general elections set for April 12, and with parliament set to dissolve on February 11 ahead of the polls, the Balkan state may not have a parliament in operation by the time Spain finally ratifies the protocol.

The country must have its parliament in session to put the final stamp on NATO accession, once all other member state parliaments have given their assent.

Defence Minister Shekerinska told Alsat M TV on Sunday that she did not want to speculate on whether the elections should be postponed to take account of the timing of NATO accession.

“Once we have all the details [from Spain] then we can talk and decide,” she said.

But she added that it would be “irresponsible” of North Macedonia to delay accession for the elections, having previously urged all other NATO partners to ratify the protocol as fast as possible.

North Macedonia is not the main focus of the summit being held 70 years after the formation of the alliance at the height of the Cold War in 1949.

More pressing issues include France’s call for a revision of the alliance’s strategic planning, to put the focus on the threat of terrorism and seek better relations with Russia.

Attention will also be paid to US President Donald Trump’s routine criticism of America’s NATO allies, particularly Germany, for not spending enough on defence.