The US administration has a real opportunity to advance American leadership at the NATO summit in Chicago, ensuring that Macedonia joins NATO this year would be a sign that President Obama genuinely understands America’s primary role in creating and maintaining a democratic global order, assessed Sally McNamara, Senior Policy Analyst in European Affairs at The Heritage Foundation in opinion article for Fox News.

She reminded that in 2008, the Greek government unilaterally vetoed Macedonia’s accession to NATO. That action broke with an age-old principle that NATO members do not play out bilateral disputes within the alliance.

- Last month, the International Court of Justice ruled that Greece had violated international law with its veto, since Athens had explicitly promised to not prevent Macedonia’s integration into Europe in an interim accord they signed with Skopje 13 years earlier. But Athens vetoed Macedonia’s membership of the alliance regardless, and the Greek government has continued its vendetta against Skopje ever since. Worse, it has done so without a squeak of protest from the White House. NATO’s cynical acquiescence to this type of bullying must end. Although it is a small country many miles from Washington, Macedonia still matters to the U.S.—and more importantly, to America’s commitment to the freedom, democracy and national sovereignty of fledging states, McNamara said.

By all objective standards—and by NATO’s own admission—Macedonia has fulfilled the alliance’s membership criteria. But Greek obstructionism means that NATO’s door remains closed. Ultimately, however, it is the willingness of NATO leaders to play along that has allowed Greece’s unconscionable stance to prevail. It is time for President Obama to exert leadership on this issue.

- Enlargement of the NATO alliance has been a sorely neglected topic in the past two years. President Obama must seize the moment and recommit the alliance to keeping its doors open to would-be members who have earned their place in the Euro-Atlantic family, McNamara said.

International observers did not give Macedonia much of a chance when it emerged from the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation in the 1990s, but its progress has been incredible. In 20 years, Macedonia has evolved from a Balkan powder keg into a net exporter of security, providing the fourth-largest per capita contribution to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan (even though it is not even a member of NATO). Macedonia even contributed to the war in Iraq, where their combat troops fought side by side with American troops on the ground. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly thanked Macedonia for providing a safe refuge for hundreds of thousands of Kosovar refugees during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, she said.

In May, President Obama will have a chance to stand not just for what amounts only to fair treatment of Macedonia, but for something far more important: the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

- In the last few years, no country has benefited from the hand of international friendship more than Greece. Without global financial support—including tens of millions of dollars from the U.S. via the International Monetary Fund—Athens would not even be able to pay its bills. The days when NATO nations should feel constrained to let Greece indulge in regional obstructionism are long gone, said Sally McNamara in opinion article for Fox News.