At the 2008 Bucharest summit , Greece blocked a proposed invitation because it believed that its neighbor 's constitutional name implies territorial aspirations toward its own region of Greek Macedonia . NATO nations agreed that the country would receive an invitation upon resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute . Macedonia sued Greece at the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) over their veto of Macedonia 's NATO membership . The ICJ ruled in December 2011 that Greece was wrong to have blocked its neighbor 's bid , finding them in breach of a 1995 interim accord that allowed Macedonia to join international organizations under the name " the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia " , which is how NATO , with the exception of Turkey , recognized their bid . Greece also blocked Macedonia 's accession to the European Union over the naming dispute . Macedonia was part of the Vilnius Group , and had formed the Adriatic Charter with Croatia and Albania in 2003 to better coordinate NATO accession . In March 2016 , Macedonian Defense Minister Zoran Jolevski stated his hope that his country 's handling of the European migrant crisis might bring it closer to NATO membership
2008 Bucharest summit
2008 Bucharest summit
Enlargement of NATO