NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that Macedonia was not invited to join the Alliance, due to its name related controversy with Greece. Scheffer said that the two countries, Albania and Croatia will receive the action plan while Georgia and Ukraine will receive the membership action plan in the future.
Journalists representing Macedonia left the conference room after Scheffer made his official declaration. According to sources, France, Spain, Luxembourg and Greece voted against Macedonia while Portugal refrained to take a stand on the issue.
Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that NATO's decision is a victory forGreece. Lately, Greek officials argued that Macedonia need to choose another name for their nation or at least add another adjective to it.
