Last week I got back from NATO Headquarters in Brussels. In January, the UK took over from Turkey as the lead NATO Embassy here in Sarajevo, so I went to learn about NATO’s priorities and challenges in our fast-changing and increasingly complex world.
There’s a lot on NATO’s plate as it configures itself to respond to an aggressive and expansionist Russia in the east, and to the threat from Islamic extremism in the south. But one thing that struck me is that NATO still has time for the Balkans.
There’s an awful lot of goodwill towards this region, and everyone wants to see Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours inside the Alliance. NATO views this region, and its enduring stability, as unfinished business. And it’s not hard to see why. Look at the map. There are NATO Allies to the north, south, east and west. But there is a hole in the heart of Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a European country, and it belongs in the European alliance.
I know that not everyone in this country is yet fully convinced about joining NATO. Yes, there is history. But if you are prepared to look to the future rather than to the past, then the case for NATO is simple and compelling. I see it like this:
- NATO = Security. NATO is the most powerful and most successful Alliance in the history of the world. It is the ultimate guarantee of a country’s security. When they join NATO, nations make a solemn pledge that an attack on one ally will be treated as an attack on them all, and that they will come to the aid of their ally with all necessary means. NATO means that borders are inviolable, and for a country with a history like that of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is a guarantee worth having.
- Security = Stability. Once a country has guaranteed its future security through NATO, it can focus on its long-term political and economic stability without having to worry about what goes on outside its borders. And we saw last year in the floods the role that your Armed Forces can already play in helping to deal with domestic crises. NATO can offer expertise to make them even better so that they can act as a modern and effective force for stability.
- Stability = Prosperity. Investors want stability. For many years, BiH has projected an image to the outside world of being unstable and divided. There would be no better signal towards potential investors in this country than progress along the path towards NATO and the EU.
Elsewhere in the region, Croatia, Slovenia and Albania are already NATO Allies. But other countries are also moving closer to NATO, including those which, like parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have experienced NATO bombing in the past 20 years. Montenegro is close to joining the Alliance. And cooperation between Serbia and NATO is also growing. The Serbian Defence Minister attended last year’s NATO Summit in Wales, and in January Serbia agreed an Individual Partnership Action Plan – the first formal step on the path towards membership of the Alliance.
Just as with the EU, Bosnia and Herzegovina risks being left behind by its neighbours. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Progress could come very quickly. The governing coalitions at the State and Federation levels have already agreed finally to implement the ruling of the Constitutional Court and to carry out the formal registration of defence property to the State. If that happens, then BiH would get in return a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) – the next step towards full membership of the Alliance. MAP doesn’t guarantee future membership, on either side, but it would be a fantastic signal that the country is moving forwards after years of stagnation. And there would be other benefits too. Property which is not needed by the Armed Forces could finally be sold off to generate much-needed money that could be used to improve schools, hospitals and roads.
Over the coming months, I’ll be making this case for NATO around the country. [Look out for me in Bijeljina in April.] But I would love to think that the new energy and momentum that we have succeeded in generating around the EU accession process could also help to unblock progress towards NATO. Then Bosnia and Herzegovina would be firmly on a path towards more security, stability and prosperity, for the benefit of all its citizens.