North Macedonia Adds Country’s New Name to Passports, IDs

North Macedonia will start issuing new passports and IDs containing the country's new constitutional name "Republic of North Macedonia", starting July 1, Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski confirmed.

The issue of new documents with the name the country adopted as part of an historic agreement with Greece does not mean that all citizens will be immediately obliged to replace their existing passports and IDs.

The process of replacement will be gradual, and people will get new ones when their current ones expire.

North Macedonia and Greece signed a landmark agreement in June 2018 which saw then Republic of Macedonia agree to change its name to Republic of North Macedonia and Greece drop its veto on its neighbour's Euro-Atlantic integration.

The country's language, however, has remained "Macedonian", as the Skopje government insisted in the talks. The people's nationality, which will be reflected in the new passports and IDs, was defined as "Macedonian/Citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia".

The latest move by North Macedonia, which brings both sides closer to full implementation of the Prespes accord, comes after, earlier this week, Greece condemned North Macedonia's Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, for appearing to use the country's old name in reference to a football match.

Attending Monday's European Championship match between North Macedonia and the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Zaev tweeted: "Today, from the stadium in Amsterdam, I offer my strong support to the Macedonian national football team."

Greece grumbled that he had omitted use of the agreed geographical qualifier, "North."

"We demand the full implementation of the Prespes agreement and its spirit and we call on Mr Zaev to refrain from divisive...