Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Address of President Xhaferi at the solemn session on the occasion of the Ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty at the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia
Distinguished
President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Mr. Stevo Pendarovski,
Dear Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Mr. Oliver Spasovski,
Dear Members of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia,
Dear Mr. Attila Mesterházy, Acting President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,
Dear Presidents of the parliaments of Republic of Slovenia and Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Dejan Zhidan and Ms. Cveta Karajancheva,
Dear vice presidents and representatives of the parliaments of the Republic of Albania, Montenegro and Republic of Croatia, Ms. Vasilika Hysi, Mr. Genci Nimanbegu and Mr. Miroslav Tudjman,
Dear Ambassadors,
Dear Members of the Assembly,
Distinguished media representative,
Dear Guests,
Allow me, on this historic day for us, to express my pleasure and the honor I have, as President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, to chair this session at which the Legislature will ratify the North Atlantic Treaty, the core and the legal basis of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Our path to NATO, seen through the lens of the past three decades, was not a bit easy and was intertwined with many turbulent moments. It began in 1993, when the respective Assembly adopted the Decision on Accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO, whereby the MPs, as representatives of the people, unequivocally and resolutely expressed their determination for membership in the NATO Alliance and paved the way of the state that had just gained independence. Over the years, the Assembly adopted four (4) Declarations to support and reaffirm the Republic of North Macedonia’s integration in NATO, thus demonstrating the virtue, determination and high state awareness of more parliamentary compositions, through their MPs from different political parties or independent groups, to position the state in important, lasting and highly valued international organizations such as the NATO Alliance.
Dear Members of the Assembly,
Dear Guests,
The Republic of North Macedonia, together with the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Albania, was an active stakeholder and equal partner in the Adriatic Group, which acted in integrative manner at the regional level, with a single objective of all three states 
– full-fledged NATO membership. Despite our failure to achieve this at the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008 and although disappointed with receiving a conditional invitation to join the Alliance, we were not reluctant to pursue our strategic goal. On the contrary, the Assembly, the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and all other state institutions continued, with great diligence and enthusiasm, to work devotedly on the reform agenda set by NATO. An obvious example of this two decades of hard work are the annual National Plans and the alliance in NATO peacekeeping missions around the world, alongside the Alliance's highly trained and technologically advanced armies, where our troops have, to this day, received the highest marks for demonstrated combat capability, readiness and discipline. We have thus achieved a win-win situation – we prepared the Army and the state in line with NATO standards and met NATO membership criteria. This is a double win for us, and it will be more than double as our full membership becomes effective upon the completion of the entire ratification procedure of the Accession Protocol in the last remaining NATO member state, the Kingdom of Spain.
Parallel to the processes at the government level, the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia has been, for more than 20 years, actively and coordinately engaged in the NATO Parliamentary dimension through our associate delegations to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, as an active and valued partner in this Assembly. The mere mention of the seven Ross-Roth seminars we have organized in the Republic of North Macedonia and the mutual cooperation with NATO PA in many other activities speaks volumes about our initiative and readiness to respond to our role in this international assembly as a respectable partner who values and promotes the lasting and shared values of the entire North Atlantic Alliance.
Allow me in this context, to express particular pride in the work of the current Assembly, its awareness, state capacity and care for the future of our generations, as it has succeeded, by overcoming all sensitive moments - to solidify the pillar of our international positioning - so that we are not at the door of NATO any more, but together with our partners, all 29 Member States, act on equal terms within the Alliance. All of this, of course, would not have been complete and effective without the current state leadership - the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and the President of the State, to whom I extend my due respect.
I would like to greet and extend my sincere respect to all the parliamentary compositions so far, to all the governments so far, to all presidents of the state, to all who have delivered on their part unselfishly, with dedication and enthusiasm, but most of all, I sincerely wish to express my respect to the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, who, over the past three decades since our independence, have consistently shown a high amount of support on our country's path to the NATO Alliance. Soon, all these efforts will receive their worthy valorisation and we can proudly say - We are NATO!
