This Friday Macedonia celebrates the 26th annivesary of its declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. At a referendum held on September 8th 1991, with a turnout of 75 percent, an overwhelming majority of 95 percent voted in favor of an independent Macedonia, with the option to join a future alliance of sovereign Yugoslav states.
The referendum was preceded by the Declaration of Independence adopted in the first multi-party Parliament on January 25th. Ten days after the referendum, the Parliament adopted a declaration of acceptance of the referendum results and by November 17th the new Constitution was adopted.
A portion of the ethnic Albanian community boycotted the referendum and Albanian representatives in the Parliament did not support the Constitution, which was amended following the war in 2001 by adding the Ohrid framework agreement.
The first country to recognize independent Macedonia was Bulgaria, followed closely by Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia and Bosnia. In April 1993 Macedonia was admitted into the United Nations as its 181st member, but due to Greek objections, this was done under a temporary reference name - the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Early issues faced by independent Macedonia included high inflation, the Greek trade embargo, the 1999 refugee crisis from Kosovo and the 2001 war with Albanian insurgents. The country worked on strengthening the economy and introducing democratic reforms as well as integrating itself in the Euro-Atlantic structures. The previous two and a half years were marked by the political crisis which was overcome by the Przino agreement and the elections of December 2016.
Macedonia was deemed ready to join NATO in the 2008 Bucharest Summit, but the invitation was withheld until the name issue with Greece is resolved. An EU candidate status was given in 2005, but accession talks still haven't started, again due to Greek objections.
