Macedonia Ratifies Greek Deal for Second Time

Macedonia's parliament on Thursday ratified the agreement with Greece for a second time and with the same ratio of MPs.

Once again, 69 of the 120 MPs voted in favour of the agreement while one abstained. No MPs voted against as the entire opposition bloc, led by  the former ruling VMRO DPMNE party, boycotted the session.

The second vote followed shortly after the first one, held on June 20, and after President Gjorge Ivaniov refused to ratify an agreement which, like the opposition, he called a national defeat.

After parliament's second ratification, the President is obliged to sign the agreement, but may not hurry to do so, as neither the Macedonian constitution nor the laws lay down deadlines.

Before the vote, some MPs reported having received threatening letters, in which an unnamed sender said they would be held responsible for high treason if they supported ratification for the second time.

The President's refusal to sign the ratification is not expected to derail the historic agreement signed on June 17, by which Macedonia agreed to change its name to "Republic of North Macedonia" in exchange for swifter accession to NATO and a start to EU accession talks, which Greece blocked in the past.

After the first ratification, Greece sent letters to the EU and NATO, saying that previous obstacles to Greece's agreement had now been removed.

As a result, the EU has set a conditional agreement for Macedonia to start accession talks, subject to the completion of various reforms, while NATO is expected to directly invite the country to join at its forthcoming summit set for July 11-12.

The hardest part of the implementation of the agreement is arguably the forthcoming referendum in Macedonia, expected to be set for late...