Discussion of the Minister of Defense, Prof. Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, PhD on a Panel: “Prospects and options of NATO enlargement to the Western Balkans”

Dear colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to  speak and participate in the discussion on this issue of great importance for all Western Balkans countries.

Contemporary international relations imply the increasing inter-dependence and connections between countries, so that the consequences of the conflicts or economic crisis in different parts of the world have  significant mutual influences. The boundaries are not so firm or closed, and each country finds it difficult to follow on its own the flow of people, funds, goods, information etc.

In time of  todayꞋs assymetrical security challanges and threats, none country is capable of tackling independently all complex security problems, what creates a need for strenghtening mutual cooperation on regional, as well as on the global level. This particularly refers to the Western Balkans region, which was an area of security crisis for years. Aware of that fact, Montenegro has been clearly determined to strengthen continuosly regional cooperation and stability and to resolve open issues by peacefull means, what resulted in establishing good relations with all neighboring countries. 

We are convinced that the Western Balkans accession to NATO represents the best guarantee for peace, security and further overall development in this part of Europe, especially bearing in mind that it is a region where some open security issues still exist. In that sense, it is of utermost importance to continue with the development of the cooperation within regional initiatives and organization, such as: the U.S.-Adriatic Charter- A5, South East Defense Ministerial (SEDM), South East Europe Clearing House (SEECH), South East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) and RACVIAC. 

In all these programmes, the Western Balkans countries, through mutual communication and exchange of experiences on defense and security issues, and in cooperation with NATO partners, harmonize national political and social systems with the system of the Alliance, strenghtening the regional cooperation and securityat the same time.

One of the best indicators of the Western Balkans countries’ readiness to participate in the collective security system is through deployment of their Armed Forces members  to international missions and operations all around the world. There, for example, a joint team of the U.S.-Adriatic Charter member countries and Slovenia in Military Police School for training Afghan National Security Forces in Kabul, demostrates that the Western Balkans countries are not any more just beneficiaries of the collective security system services, but also active participants in the process of preserving global peace. 

The necessity of mutual cooperation and assistance is even more clearly demonstrated in the situations of natural and man made disasters, floods, fires or heavy snow falls in February this year. At that occasion, right after sending an invitation to the Euroatlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre, NATO members- Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and the U.S. deployed their helicopters to help citizens in northern parts of Montenegro.

This, and many other exemples show that nowdays NATO is not only military-defense Alliance, but also a political organization which is based on common values such as: democracy, rule of law, respect of human rights, fight against organized crime and corruption etc.

Having that in mind, the NATO enlargement to the Western Balkans represents the strategic interest of the region, fully compatible with the  priority of each of the country when their EU integrations are concerned. Apart the clear message related with the further enlargement of the Alliance,  I think that NATO made it clear on several occasions to all aspiring countries that the main criteria for the entrance to the Alliance is their individual progess on meeting clearly defined standards and criteria.  No matter the fact that the invitation to Euro-Atlantic family is in a great extent a political decision, I am convinced that each of our countries, which successfully conducts the system reform process and meets neccessary criteria, is in a position to receive the invitation for the membership.

Despite the actual global economic crisis, which to the large extent determines the state of the international community and significantly influences the policy of all main subjects of international relations, including NATO as well, we can certainly expect that the Western Balkans countries will receive the invitation to join Alliance in the future period, under the condition to pursue with fullfiling the necessary standards. Messages and conclusions from the Chicago Summit give us the base for realistic expectation that at the next Summit,  NATO officials will invite at least one of the Western Balkans country to join, and that this ’trend’ will be continued until the final integration of the whole region in the Euro-Atlantic family. 

In that way the whole region will be in a position to contribute in preserving the global peace, and NATO will become the strongest guarantee that  events, which unfortunatelly happened in the past decades, will not be repeated. Until the moment of invitation for the membership in NATO, the Western Balkans countries have to continue to work, with even more committment and focus,  on meeting the defined standards, conducting the reform processes and  preserving the high level of regional cooperation.  

Thank you.