Ratification process of Montenegro's NATO Accession Protocol has been completed

The ratification of the Protocol on the Accession of Montenegro to NATO in the upper house of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain, on Wednesday 10 May, completed the ratification procedure of the Protocol by NATO Member States.

Ratification process of Montenegro's NATO Accession Protocol

Ratification process of the Accession Protocol began in NATO Member States in June 2016. Iceland was the first country to ratify the Protocol on the Accession of Montenegro to NATO on 8 June 2016, exactly ten years after also being the first country to officially recognise Montenegro’s independence. Montenegrin Parliament unanimously adopted the Draft Law on Ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty on 28 April 2017.

After expiry of the deadline for entering into force of the ratification act in the Netherlands on 1 June, where the national procedure has been completed, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will send a letter of invitation to Montenegro to join NATO. As Prime Minister Duško Marković announced two days ago in an interview with Voice of America, during his stay in Washington, by depositing instruments of ratification, scheduled for 5 June, Montenegro will formally become a NATO member state.

Timeline

When restoring independence, Montenegro defined EU and NATO accession as its strategic objectives. Official relations between Montenegro and NATO were established on 29 November 2006 by inviting Montenegro to join the Partnership for Peace. President of Montenegro Filip Vujanović signed the Partnership for Peace Framework Document on 14 December 2006 in Brussels.

At a meeting held in Brussels on 2 December 2015, foreign ministers of NATO member states decided to invite Montenegro to become a member of the Alliance and to start accession negotiations.

The Accession Protocol was signed at the meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states on 19 May 2016, in the presence of the Montenegrin delegation, headed by Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, and forwarded to the parliaments of all 28 members for ratification. Prime Minister Duško Marković noted at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels in January 2017 that Montenegro is determined to successfully bring its NATO path to an end despite the pressures to which it has been exposed.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO