NORTH MACEDONIA is set to join Nato “within days,” becoming the 30th member of the alliance, as the forces of imperialism seek to strengthen in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg sent a formal letter of invitation to North Macedonian Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski on Friday after Spain became the last country to ratify the Balkan nation’s membership.

North Macedonia is expected to deliver its “instrument of accession” to the US State Department this week, a Nato diplomat confirmed. The news followed its formal application to join the European Union, which began on Tuesday.

Mr Spasovski said earlier this week that negotiations with the EU would start “as soon as possible” following the agreement of the EU’s general-affairs council.

Macedonia has sought Nato membership since 1995 when it joined the alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme, aimed at bringing former Soviet states under the imperialists’ influence. It has proved successful, with 13 former member states of the programme joining Nato.

But the bid had previously been blocked by Greece in a dispute over the nation’s name. Athens demanded it change its name from “Macedonia” to avoid any potential claims to the neighbouring region in northern Greece also called Macedonia.

In 2018, following a referendum and agreement by both governments, it became North Macedonia.

In a twist of irony, the announcements were made on the 21st anniversary of the Nato bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a country that posed no threat to any of its member states.

That campaign, which was in breach of United Nations declarations, lasted for almost three months, with at least 4,000 people killed and 12,500 injured as war planes pummelled Serbia.

The commander who led the Nato bombardment, General Michael C Short said: “One cannot win a war without destroying the possibility of a normal life for the majority of the population.

“We must take away from them water, power supply, food and even the normal air to breathe.”

That military intervention — along with subsequent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and others — blows a hole in the alliance’s claims of “seven decades of peace and prosperity” which world leaders celebrated last year to mark Nato’s 70th anniversary.

Albania is also set to join the EU as the economic bloc seeks to strengthen ties with the western Balkan countries and fend off the influence of China and Russia.