Macedonia has been ready for NATO membership since 2008, but its accession is blocked by Greece over the name issue. Greece cannot be excepted, it will have to respect the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as it failure to do so would mean a devaluation of NATO, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said Friday in Bitola.

Speaking about the recent session of the North-Atlantic Council (NAC), Gruevski said Macedonia was welcomed at the event as an ally, partner country, one that for many years has been contributing to NATO.

"NATO is pleased with the country's assistance, which is concrete, not just declarative, namely it involves army and funds, as half of our defense budget has been allocated for those who serve in Afghanistan. All those efforts, including the (country's) overall reforms, are appreciated by NATO, and (at the session) it was pointed out that Macedonia has been ready for NATO membership since 2008. Unfortunately you are familiar with the problem, which was the main subject of discussion, i.e. the Greek blockade," Gruevski said.

At the NAC session I used the opportunity to point out some unprincipled actions, which we consider to be unjust, and to reaffirm the new moment related to the ruling of ICJ, which clearly confirms a breach of the international law, the PM said.

Some of the session's attendants, Gruevski said, considered it was a legal matter, but it is a political one.

"When the law stand versus politics, one cannot make political decisions. In other words, if a national constitutional court annuls some law we cannot say it is a political decision and keep working in line with that law. It also refers to the international law, namely if an international court comes forward with a certain decision whether it will be respected or not cannot be a subject of a political will, it must be enforced. Because all states, not only non-member NATO countries, must abide to the international law without exception. I said that at the session, as there is a feeling and I don't wish to believe that some country should win a right to join NATO and afterwards fail to respect the international law, do whatever it wishes and bear no consequences, while as non-member it must abide to the international law as all other do," Gruevski said.

Such attitude cannot be a NATO principle, as one of the main pillars of the Alliance is to promote security, democracy and rule of law, the PM said.

"Hence, Greece cannot be an exception, as it will be a devaluation of NATO. They must find a way for resolving the problem Greece has been creating, one that will not breach the international law," Gruevski said.