Being the first of the Nato member states, Greece has ratified the accession protocol for the Balkan state.

(Alternative: Greece was the first Nato member to ratify the accession protocol for the Balkan state.)

The admission would stabilize the region, said Alexis Tsipras.

[picture] The Greek Prime Minister voting for Northern Macedonia's Nato accession

The Greek Parliament has assented to the Nato accession of the future Republic of Northern Macedonia. 153 members of parliament voted in favour of the ratification, 140 against, the committee of the parliament communicated in Athens. "I bide Northern Macedonia welcome", Alexis Tsipras said after the vote. The accession would stabilize the region.

The decision puts an end to the decade old name conflict between Greece an the Balkan state. Before the vote, Northern Macedonia's foreign minister had communicated that, in case of the Greek parliament ratifying the Nato accession, he would want to inform all international organizations and countries about the country's renaming.    

Beforehand, the ambassadors of the 29 Nato member states had signed the accession protocoll for the future Republic of Northern Macedonia. But still the alliance partners need to sign the agreement on national level. Until now, Greece had blocked Northern Macedonia's Nato accession as there is also a northern greek province named Macedonia and the government in Athens was apprehensive about territorial claims by the neighbouring country. As a result of the ratification, Northern Macedonia could accede the military alliance already next year.

The name conflict of these both countries has its origin in 1991, when this yugoslavian republic declared it's independence and picked the name Macedonia for itself. Macedonian head of government Zoran Zaev and Alex Tsipras had agreed on the renaming in summer 2018.

Source text from
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2019-02/militaerbuendnis-nato-griechenland-beitrittsprotokoll-nordmazedonien