Skopje wins case against Greece at ICJ on 2008 NATO membership

The International Court of Justice, ICJ, in The Hague on Monday found Greece guilty of breaching the UN 1995 deal with Macedonia by blocking the country’s membership of NATO in 2008.

The president of the court, Judge Hisashi Ovada, said the judges had ruled by 15 votes to one “that the Hellenic Republic, by objecting to the admission of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to NATO, has breached its obligation under Article 11, paragraph 1, of the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995”.

The court found that Greece had failed to prove that in 2008 it had acted “in response” to a previous Macedonian breach of the same accord.

However, the court did not uphold Macedonia’s request and order Greece to restrain from blocking its smaller neighbour from joining International organizations in future.