(ANSA) - BELGRADE, OCTOBER 8 - Nato does not have a plan B for Macedonia, and the only way to join the Atlantic Alliance is to approve the agreement with Greece on the new name of the former Yugoslav republic (Northern Macedonia), according to Nato secretary-generale Jens Stoltenberg, who is visiting Serbia. It is up to the Macedonian institutions, government and parliament, to decide on future steps to be taken after the referendum. If institutions in Skopje decide to approve the agreement with Greece, Nato is ready to welcome Macedonia as its 30th member state, and do it quickly. wWe can quickly sign the accession protocol, immediately after the name change, and it is up to the Macedonian democratic institutions to decide whether to approve the name deal," Stoltenberg said. "There cannot be any Nato membership without the name agreement. The only way to join is to approve the agreement with Greece." Nato does not want to exert any pressure on a free decision to be made by a sovereign state. But this is, Stoltenberg observed, "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

(ANSA).