The United Nations confirmed on Wednesday that it has been officially informed by the Macedonian government that the country's new name is North Macedonia.

At the United Nations, the country had been known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) because Greece objected to the use of Macedonia, the name used for its own northern region.

The 27-year-old dispute was finally settled in June during UN-brokered talks.

The new name came into force Tuesday after constitutional changes were published in the Official Gazette and Skopje's foreign ministry said both countries had informed the UN by letter that the change is now in force.

A UN official said a notice would be sent to the General Assembly and the Security Council to inform them of the change.

Since 1991, Athens had objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia because Greece has a historic northern province of the same name. Greece has blocked Macedonia's NATO and EU integration until it changes the name. </s> The small Balkan country of Macedonia officially changed its name Tuesday by adding a geographic designation that ends a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece and secures its entry into NATO.

A government press release said the young country now is formally called the Republic of North Macedonia. A series of practical adjustments -- ranging from new road signs to updated passports and currency -- will be made gradually, and started with the government website late Tuesday.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said his country would press ahead with all the changes needed to fulfill its end of the historic deal he reached with the prime minister of Greece last year.

"At the end of the day we must show that we are implementing our part of the obligations," he said. "I believe that all institutions are ready to act."

Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said the move followed a final exchange of diplomatic notes with Greece.

"May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia," he said in a tweet. "We can't change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation."

The name change resolves a dispute with Greece dating back to Macedonia's declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Athens had long argued that its small, landlocked neighbor's name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia, and on ancient Greek cultural heritage.

Although more than 130 countries formally had recognized the country as Macedonia, the United Nations and other international bodies used the "Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia," the cumbersome moniker Greece and Macedonia settled on for an interim accord in 1995.

A breakthrough in their name dispute came last summer when Zaev and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to a compromise under which Greece also lifted its objections to Macedonia joining NATO and the European Union.

Despite opposition on either side of the border, the deal was ratified by both parliaments.

North Macedonia's deputy foreign minister, Andrej Zernovski, told local Telma TV that authorities would change, within three days, road signs at border crossings, airports and customs checkpoints.

Within four months, the Interior Ministry will start issuing new car license plates with the abbreviation NMK, while new passports will be issued at the end of this year, Zernovski said.

The country plans to give the U.N. and its member states formal notice of the name change within days, he said.

A government press release said that changes will also be made to notice boards at airports, while the country's central bank will draft plans for replacing the circulating currency with the old one-word name.

Earlier Tuesday, Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building, as more member nations approved making it the alliance's 30th member.

Speaking at a ceremony in the capital of Skopje, Zaev said the country had achieved a "historic goal" in being accepted into NATO.

All of NATO's 29 current members must ratify the accession agreement. Slovenia on Tuesday became the second country to do so after Greece, which made the move last week. </s> Macedonian officials on Wednesday symbolically installed at the main border crossing with Greece the first sign showing the new name of the country after a decades-long dispute between the neighboring nations was resolved.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has officially changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, a move that makes a distinction between the country and a region in northern Greece, also known as Macedonia. </s> The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has formally renamed itself the Republic of North Macedonia, the government in Skopje said on Tuesday.

The amendment that changed the country's name became law with its publication in the official gazette, a month after the parliament approved the move.

North Macedonia also formally notified the United Nations about the name change, the government said.

The move ends a long-running dispute between North Macedonia and its southern neighbor, Greece, and has opened a path for Skopje to join the NATO military alliance and the European Union.

Read more: Macedonia: What's in a name?

Athens had blocked its northern neighbor from joining either bloc because it claimed "Macedonia" and the name's historical associations for one of its northern provinces.

Greece only allowed Skopje to join the UN in 1995 as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," a reference to the country's former membership of Yugoslavia.

Both countries' leftist governments eventually agreed on the compromise "North Macedonia" in June 2018 and won parliamentary approval in Skopje and Athens for the deal in January.

Greece has ratified an accession protocol that North Macedonia signed with all 29 members of NATO last week. North Macedonia will formally join the alliance once all members ratify the accord.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Macedonia's parliament on Monday approved plans to hold a referendum on changing the country's name to the Republic of North Macedonia.

In a vote that was boycotted by Conservative opponents, 68 lawmakers in the 120-seat assembly backed the proposal by Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The vote is to take place on September 30.

The name change would allow the former Yugoslav republic to resolve its long-running dispute with neighboring Greece and join NATO and the European Union.

The parliamentary approval follows a landmark agreement between Skopje and Athens in June, when the two countries agreed to rename the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in an effort to break the stalemate that has afflicted their relations since 1991.

Athens has objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia because it has a northern province by the same name, and is concerned it may imply territorial ambitions.

The dispute has so far stymied Macedonia's efforts to join the NATO and the EU, where Greece enjoys a veto power.

Read more: Macedonia: What's in a name?

The proposed name change has triggered protests in both countries, with Macedonian nationalists calling it an assault on the country's identity.

The referendum question approved on Monday does not spell out the new name but underscores the government's ambitions of stronger ties with the West.

On September 30, the public will be asked: "Are you for EU and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?"

"The question is ambiguous and multifaceted, and above all manipulative," said Igor Janusev, a leading member of the nationalist opposition VMRO-DPMNE party.

If Macedonians do vote for the name change and the parliament amends the constitution, Greece's lawmakers will then have to ratify the accord.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> The United Nations has confirmed that it has been officially informed by the Macedonian government that the country's new name is North Macedonia.

At the United Nations, the country had been known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia because Greece objected to the use of Macedonia, the name used for its own northern region.

The UN announcement on February 13 came after Macedonia's government on February 12 said the country was officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia, under a landmark agreement to normalize relations with Greece that also allows Macedonia to enter NATO.

The name change resolves a dispute with neighboring Greece that has gone back decades.

 

 However, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev were able to push through their accord last year as part of efforts to normalize relations.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and dpa </s> A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but Macedonia can’t keep its current name and please Greece.

Still, the fix may be relatively simple. The addition of one word—North—may make all the difference in resolving a 27-year diplomatic dispute, and there may soon be a nation called North Macedonia.

The neighboring nations Greece and Macedonia have been debating Macedonia’s chosen name since 1991, when the small country that was once part of the former Yugoslavia adopted the name. Greece objects because it has its own region called Macedonia. It also takes offense because it argues that its northern neighbor’s name indicates its greater territorial ambitions. Macedonia, for its part, will agree to the name change if Greece will stop blocking its efforts to join NATO and the European Union.

In 1995, the two countries came to an interim agreement brokered by the UN. Macedonia came to be known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM. Today (June 12), leaders from both nations said a final agreement may well have been reached.

Re-birth of a nation: The Republic of North Macedonia

The new name, Republic of North Macedonia—Severna Makedonija in Macedonian—should resolve the conflict once and for all. According to the BBC, Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev, speaking live on TV in Macedonia, said, “There is no way back.”

Don’t break out the champagne just yet. First the Macedonian parliament and people have to vote on the proposed new name. And the Greek parliament has to agree that this is an acceptable resolution. Macedonia will also have to change its constitution, according to Zaev.

He reportedly proposed four options to settle the long-standing dispute, including Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Upper Macedonia, Republic of Vardar Macedonia and Republic of Macedonia. Last month, at an EU summit in Bulgaria, Zaev and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras discussed a resolution, and the two spoke twice on the phone this week before announcing the deal. They got kudos from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who tweeted his pleasure over the “historic agreement.”

The history behind the dispute

Greece was peeved by Macedonia’s choice of name for historic reasons. In the 4th Century BC, the Macedonian Empire ruled by Alexander the Great included what is now modern Greece. The Greeks argue that modern Macedonia is actually part of Hellenic culture. But the new deal will also emphasize the fact that Macedonians to the north speak a Slavic language and don’t have a linguistic kinship with the Macedonians of Greece.

The BBC reports that many Greeks are resistant to a deal that includes the name Macedonia at all. Earlier this month protestors descended on 25 cities to oppose an agreement. Similarly, in February, protests in Athens and Thessaloniki prompted renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis to proclaim, “Macedonia was, is and will forever be Greek.”

It seems, however, that the Republic of North Macedonia, won’t be.

Read next: Nearly every country on Earth is named after one of four things </s> The prime ministers of Greece and FYR Macedonia have agreed on a new name for the latter country – the Republic of Northern Macedonia – ending a bitter 27-year dispute.

Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev made the announcements shortly after speaking by phone on Tuesday. The new name will be used both domestically and internationally, and FYR Macedonia will amend its constitution as part of the deal.

The name dispute has poisoned relations between the two countries since Macedonia’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and has prevented FYR Macedonia from joining international institutions such as NATO and the European Union.

Athens, which like all members of both organisations has a veto over admissions, objected to its neighbour’s use of the name Macedonia, arguing that it, along with articles in the constitution, could imply territorial claims over its own northern region of the same name.

Greece had long demanded that FYR Macedonia change or modify its name to avoid any claim to the territory and heritage of the region, the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

Tsipras said in a televised statement that Macedonia’s name change would allow a clear distinction between Greece’s province of Macedonia and the neighbouring country.

Zaev said resolving the longstanding issue would open FYR Macedonia’s access to NATO and the EU. “There is no way back,” Zaev told a news conference.

Under the deal, the country known at the United Nations as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) will be named Severna Makedonija, or Republic of North Macedonia.

Its language will be Macedonian and its people known as Macedonians (citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia).

Significantly, they agreed that the new name would be used both internationally and bilaterally, so that even the 140 or more countries that recognize the name Macedonia will also have to adopt North Macedonia.

FYR Macedonia had proposed four names to resolve the dispute: Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Upper Macedonia, Republic of Vardar Macedonia and Republic of Macedonia (Skopje).

After splitting from the former Yugoslavia, FYR Macedonia was admitted into the UN in 1993 as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Will the name fly?

The aim is to get Macedonia’s parliament to back an agreement before EU leaders meet for a summit on 28 June. Greece will then send a letter to the EU withdrawing its objection to accession talks and a letter to Nato too.

That will be followed by a FYR Macedonia referendum in September or October.

If FYR Macedonia voters back the deal, their government will then have to change the constitution. The Athens government is also adamant that the new name, rather than Macedonia, is used by everyone, nationally and internationally. That idea may be beyond its control.

The proposed name change has been resisted by sections of the FYR Macedonia public. Protesters this spring called for a UN resolution demanding recognition of the country under the name of Macedonia.

The deal will finally have to be ratified by the Greek parliament. </s> Macedonia has formally renamed itself to North Macedonia, in line with an agreement struck with Greece, the government in Skopje said on Tuesday.

"The conditions for the entry into force of amendments of the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia... are met. They come into force today, on February 12, 2019 with a corresponding announcement by the government in the Official Gazette," the government said in a statement.

Skopje will notify the United Nations about the name change in the coming days, when the use of it will start worldwide, according to a foreign ministry spokeswoman.

Since 1991, Athens had objected to its neighbor being called Macedonia because Greece has a historic northern province of the same name. Greece has blocked Macedonia's NATO and EU integration until it changed the name.

The two sides ended their 27-year dispute when they reached an agreement in June to add "North" to Macedonia.

Last week, NATO allies have signed an accession protocol with Macedonia, taking a key step toward the Balkan state becoming its 30th member.

Earlier on Tuesday, Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building, as members of the alliance continued to ratify the country's accession agreement.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, speaking at a ceremony in the capital Skopje, said Macedonia had achieved a "historic goal" in being accepted into NATO under its new name, North Macedonia.
The Republic of Macedonia officially changes its name to North Macedonia, ending a long-standing naming dispute with neighbouring Greece.