Nato foreign ministers gathered in Tallinn on Thursday (22 April) agreed to include Bosnia and Herzegovina in the military alliance’s official pre-accession programme dubbed the membership action plan (MAP), but linked the process to a series of outstanding reforms in the fragile post-Yugoslav state.
The decision was taken after intense discussions, with some members arguing that Bosnia was not yet ready for the step, while others, notably Turkey, pressed strongly for it. The programme offers technical assistance and practical support in reforming a country’s defence and security structures ahead of accession.
“Last night Nato foreign ministers made an important decision to invite Bosnia and Herzegovina to join Membership Action Plan, but made clear that there are still important reform issues that need to be solved,” Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote on this Facebook page.
“All Balkan countries should have the prospect of integration into the Euro-Atlantic community,” he added.
Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for MAP last year. But at a meeting in December, Nato foreign ministers decided to postpone its inclusion in the programme, pending a series of reforms which had stalled due to political bickering between the country’s Serb, Bosniak and Croat leadership.
“Since then, Bosnia and Herzegovina has made significant progress on reform. Nato foreign ministers welcome its decision on destruction of surplus ammunition and arms and its new ISAF contributions (soldiers in Afghanistan),” a Nato statement reads.
One of the outstanding issues, however, is defence property, which should be solved before the multi-ethnic state is accepted into the Nato fold.
