NATO Concerned About Croatian-Slovenian Dispute

In the case a referendum is held, Ljubljana will not send documents on Croatian ratification to Washington.

The Slovenian – Croatian border dispute could bring into question the announced expansion of NATO to Croatia and Albania, at the NATO summit on April 3 and 4 in Strasbourg and Kehl. This is why Zagreb and Tirana, as well as the heads of NATO, voiced concern.

The further expansion of NATO should send a clear message for the further stabilization of south-east Europe. The NATO alliance sees Croatia as important for Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia, and they see Albania important because of Kosovo, according to the evaluation of a diplomatic source in Zagreb. They added that the expansion of the alliance is a very ceremonial act, but “if you accept only one country, instead of the announced two or three, they something remains in the air”.

Croatia, Albania and Macedonia were supposed to be three new members in NATO, and their joint path towards it started in 2003 with the signing of the Adriatic Charter.

At the summit in Bucharest last year, Macedonia fell out of the race due to a dispute concerning their name with Greece. However, the NATO expansion was still announced for the start of April in Germany and France. However, even this could be brought into question by the possible Slovenian referendum on Croatia’s entry into the NATO alliance.

In the case that a referendum occurs, Ljubljana will not send the documents to ratify the protocol to Washington, and Albania voice their concern that the Slovenian-Croatian border dispute could slow their entry into NATO as well.

Deadline is not fixed

Even though the media mention a deadline of March 23 by which the ratification documents must reach Washington, concerning the entry of Croatia and Albania into NATO, the same source said that the documents can be delivered later. This was also confirmed by the State Department spokesperson who said that there is no regulation that the US government must be informed in advance about the ratification, by a certain date.

The diplomatic source said that Pahor’s cabinet calculated a possible referendum, and that they wanted to avoid this unpleasant situation on time.