Montenegro will definitely not be invited to join NATO this year, according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen but NATO hopes to invite the country to join in late 2015.
Despite months-long domestic and international campaigns on both internal and international agendas, as well as a build up of optimism among Montenegrin authorities, the doors of NATO remain closed this year but are still ajar for now.
This comes as a blow to the Montenegrin government, which had hoped for swift accession to NATO in the fallout from the ongoing Ukrainian crisis.
Moreover, the delay has given fodder to government critics, and might alienate even those sections of the Montenegrin public who see NATO membership in a favorable light.
On Wednesday Rasmussen put an end to speculations that Montenegro might be invited to join NATO at a September NATO Summit in Wales by saying the country will not be invited this year.
However, he says: “When it comes to Montenegro, we remain open for more intense and focused negotiations, and we will invite Montenegro to join the Alliance by the end of 2015.”
He also said, "We will enter what I would call a new phase in our relationship (with Montenegro). We will open what we call focused and intensified talks with Montenegro which in practical terms means that we will also intensify our assistance to Montenegro as regards the implementation of necessary reforms."
This way, NATO gave Montenegro a deadline of a year and a half to implement what it sees as necessary state and social reforms. And, although the invitation is not guaranteed if negotiations go well, Rasmussen did leave space for some optimism through general formulations:
“The doors of NATO remain open and no third party can veto NATO enlargement. Every country will continue to be assessed individually, and every country must work on progress in different sectors. We will support all aspiring members and give the help they need to pass through these doors,” saysid Rasmussen.
Rasmussen’s comments sparked an outbreak of criticism from the government’s opponents although government officials and other members of the ruling coalition said they saw his comments in a positive light.
Despite NATO’s decision not to invite Montenegro to join at this time, Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic sees a recognition of “enormous efforts” of the country in the integration process.
NATO confirmed its ‘open door’ policy for Montenegro and it is clear the country will be able to achieve its first strategic goal in approximately one year, which is a great success of state policy, said Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic who dismissed concerns with claims that NATO’s decision means a defeat of Montenegrin authorities.
“This is a somewhat traditional approach that coincides with the Montenegrin mentality that everything we do not fully achieve exactly when we want it is considered a failure. Montenegro is the reason why NATO confirmed its ‘open door’ policy on this summit. That is why the progress of Montenegro on this path was a reason enough for NATO to say it is leaving its door open, and to discuss this issue at current, preparatory ministerial meetings and the summit,” concluded Djukanovic.
A smaller member of the country’s ruling coalition, the Social-Democratic Party, also accepted NATO evaluation:
“It is obvious that some NATO partners or some countries are not content with the process of fulfilment of their standards in our country,” says Borislav Banovic .
Bestial campaign
Diplomatic sources in NATO say that member countries failed to reach consensus when it comes to extending a membership invitations to candidates during their most recent meeting, and that France was the one opposing the accession of Georgia, claiming that move would needlessly irritate Russia.
The comments were enough for opposition parties to raise complaints and criticism, even from some that supported NATO membership.
The president of the opposition ‘Movement for Changes,’ Nebojsa Medojevic, whose party supports full NATO membership, adds that Montenegro is failing to win an invitation because the authorities continue to refuse to reform the country’s security forces, and that current abuse of media to discredit their critics was too much:
“Despite millions, I think that although more than over $10 million this government invested in lobbying in NATO to get invited without NATO insisting on democratic changes in Montenegro, we did not get support. We did not get it despite our favorable geostrategic situation, in which the crisis in Ukraine sharpened the issue of NATO enlargement as one of the strategic issues in NATO itself, together with the issue of relations with Russia. Montenegro hurried to impose sanctions on Russia, and on the other hand, it did not get invited to NATO. This government, in such favorable geopolitical conditions, should blame their brutal campaign against a free media, NGO leaders and the opposition for not getting invited to NATO,” stresses Medojevic.
The president of Montenegro’s New Serb Democracy, Andrija Mandic, whose party is against NATO membership, sees the lack of an invitation as a result of western leaders’ opinion of Djukanovic, as well as that Rasmussen’s explicit formulations show that the current state is unsustainable and that those in Montenegro trying to be NATO partners are unwanted:
“As a serious military organizations that wants to have reliable partners as members, NATO does not want to risk and have people such as Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic as its members, as he was recognized as a person who betrayed more countries than he was a member of. As a member of the Supreme Defense Council of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he was a traitor in the time of NATO aggression. NATO member countries are using traitors in enemy lines, but they do not want them in theirs. In my opinion, that is the key reason,” says Mandic.
An official of the opposition party Positive Montenegro Dritan Abazovic believes that the state lost a lot by not getting a membership invitation and that such a decision represents a great diplomatic defeat for Montenegro.
“I expect [it is the] responsibility of individuals or the complete group for not getting the invitation,” says Abazovic, who believes the main culprits for the decision are Djukanovic and his deputy, Dusko Markovic.
“I am disappointed because I would prefer we were invited, but the message citizens should hear from this is that with such a political elite Montenegro cannot be transformed. It needs different political will to implement necessary reforms, primarily in the rule of law, and later in other sectors such as defense and the military. That is the only way it can be qualified for NATO and EU membership. Everything else is demagoguery, propaganda and empty talks that can only work during elections, but it cannot be easily sold to our partners in the international community,” concludes Abazovic.