Greek parliament ratifies accord to rename Macedonia

Greece's parliament on Friday ratified a landmark accord that changes the name of neighbouring Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute and opening the way for the ex-Yugoslav republic to join the European Union and NATO.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who hammered out the deal with his Macedonian counterpart last summer, secured the parliamentary majority needed to get the accord approved with support from independent and opposition lawmakers.

"After one year of negotiations, discussions and exhaustive dialogue, we are reaching the end of a tough and painful process," Tsipras told parliament during a heated debate on Thursday night, calling on lawmakers to approve the accord.

The ratification vote, which came after three days of acrimonious debate, squeaked by with 153 votes in the 300-member parliament. Tsipras's left-wing Syriza party holds 145 seats in the legislature, and independent lawmakers provided the extra votes needed for ratification.

Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which seeks to end a 28-year old row between Athens and Skopje. The settlement renames the tiny Balkan state "Republic of North Macedonia," to differentiate it from Greece's northern province of Macedonia.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev congratulated Greece following the ratification, tweeting: "Together with our peoples we reached a historical victory."

The agreement faced fierce opposition from many Greeks, who fear the agreement could lead to territorial claims against Greece, and say it signs away their identity and a cultural heritage dating back to Alexander the Great more than 2,300 years ago.

Proponents of the deal hope it will allow Macedonia to finally join NATO and the European Union. Greece has blocked its attempts to join both bodies for decades because of the dispute.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's top diplomat and the senior official supervising the bloc's enlargement said Friday in a joint statement that they "warmly welcome" the vote in Athens, which has "written a new page of our common EU future."

Protests against the agreement at times turned violent this week, with more than 150 people detained for questioning since Thursday, when police fired tear gas to disperse crowds outside parliament.

Smaller groups of people braved heavy rain on Friday to demonstrate outside Greece's parliament.

At least two lawmakers from the governing Syriza party have said their homes were targeted by violent demonstrators, while another was targeted in a fire-bombing that caused no injuries. Greece's tourism minister, an independent conservative who supports the government, said she had received multiple death threats.