With 69 votes in favor and 40 against the Foreign Affairs Committee of the FYROM House
approved the agreement with Greece signed on Sunday by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his counterpart from FYROM, Nikolas Dimitrov in the presence of the prime ministers of the two countries, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev.

Addressing the Committee, the FYROM Foreign Minister urged the urgent passing of the agreement, claiming the timely approval would facilitate the country’s application for membership to NATO.

On his part, the spokesman for the far-right party, VMRO argued that the deal is unconstitutional and would cause irreparable harm.

The agreement will now pass on to the plenary where it will be debated and voted until Friday.

If the relevant ratification law is passed, it will be sent to the country’s President, Gjeorge Ivanov, to sign (within seven days). However, the President of the Republic of FYROM has made it clear that he will not sign. Therefore, he will return the relevant law to the House, where the voting-ratification process must be repeated.
At this stage, the bill will again be passed on to the President, who will be obligated to sign it, as the Constitution provides.