Top NATO official calls Balkan countries to join

While Croatia and Albania have already joined the Alliance, Montenegro in December was granted its request to join the MAP.

PODGORICA, January 22, 2010 (AFP) - Visiting NATO military committee chairman admiral Giampaolo Di Paola on FRiday called on more Balkan states to move towards membership in the alliance.

"Many Balkan countries have already completed their journey to Europe and the Alliance... Others are coming in different speed," Di Paola told reporters after talks with Montenegrin Defence Minister Boro Vucinic.

Di Paola said that "it is quite clear that the overall future of the Balkans is to be part of the Euro-Atlantic community."

Since the fall of communism in the Balkans and a decade of conflict during the 1990s, most former communist republics have moved towards membership in NATO and the European Union.

While Croatia and Albania have already joined the Alliance, Montenegro in December was granted its request to join the membership action plan (MAP).

EU hopeful Macedonia was blocked from further progress because of the name row with Greece, while Bosnia was advised to achieve the "necessary process in reforms" in order to join the MAP.

Only Serbia, although a member of NATO Partnership for Peace programme, seems to be reluctant to pursue the process of integration.

Officials in Belgrade say the membership process is still far away, rejecting calls by several nationalists groups to organize referendum on the issue immediately.