Albania, Croatia, Macedonia get vote of confidence

12/10/2007

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution calling on the Alliance to launch membership talks with Albania, Macedonia and Croatia in 2008, provided the necessary conditions have been met.

By Zoran Nikolovski for Southeast European Times in Skopje – 12/10/07

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the Bucharest enlargement would not be the last for the Alliance. [Getty Images]

Albania, Croatia and Macedonia received a strong signal of support Tuesday (October 9th) for their efforts to join NATO. Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, representatives of the national parliaments of 26 NATO member states passed a resolution supporting the countries' bids for accession.

At the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, NATO heads of state and government should issue invitations for talks with "aspirant countries assessed to be ready and whose accession is judged to strengthen security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area", the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's resolution says.

It urges NATO member states to actively campaign in their respective national parliaments for ratification of the necessary treaty protocols. In addition, it calls for continuing NATO's"open door" policy following the summit.

"We have been working hard in the context of the Membership Action Plan to assist Albania, Croatia and the Macedonia with their preparations for membership," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at the meeting.

"As in previous rounds of enlargement, the Bucharest decision will ultimately be a political one.And there is a clear role, and indeed a responsibility, for you Parliamentarians in that process," he told the representatives.

He expressed confidence that an enlargement decision in Bucharest will not be the end of NATO expansion, and that Partnership for Peace members can look ahead to becoming full members in the future.

Along with its show of support, the Parliamentary Assembly also urged Albania, Croatia and Macedonia to intensify reforms in the coming months.

A report by the Assembly's Future Security and Defence Capabilities subcommittee said Albania should continue improving the rule of law, reforming its defence forces, and fighting corruption and organised crime.

Macedonia should show continued progress in political, economic and defence reforms, and in boosting the rule of law, the report said. Croatia should not only sustain progress on reforms, but also work to improve support for NATO accession in public opinion.

According to the subcommittee, progress in these areas would enhance the chances of a 2008 invitation to all three countries. "NATO membership would not only securely anchor these three countries within the Euro-Atlantic community, but could create political impetus for the rest of the region to push strongly for reform as well," the report said.

The three countries were praised for contributing to NATO operations, most notably the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. All regularly participate in military exercises with NATO, and in all of them defence reforms have been centered on standing up small, professional, modern, deployable forces that can work in the NATO context.

Most benchmarks of defence reform demanded by NATO have been met, including the establishment of national strategic documents and legal frameworks, as well as the restructuring and downsizing of forces.