Albania Deserves to Join NATO

By Aldo Bum詍
Everyone welcomed the invitation to join NATO. However, there is no consensus on the reasons that produced the invitation. Two viewpoints are articulated at the present: the first viewpoint emphasises the external geopolitical and regional factors. That is to say, the invitation was not rendered because of the domestic developments in Albania, and therefore, it is undeserved. The other viewpoint, without disregarding the importance of the external factors, attaches much more importance to the domestic accomplishments. There is no doubt that these two viewpoints reflect two different political stands. However, let’s forget for a moment the two political positions, because it is more constructive to investigate the external and domestic factors and to assess their significance.
The geopolitical and regional factors are divided in two groups: the security issues in the Western Balkans; and the issues originated from the relation between NATO and Russia. In this analysis, we are only to focus on the first issues. The map of South-eastern Europe was transformed when Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary joined NATO as the A3 countries were “encircled” by the NATO members. This premise demonstrates that NATO is not as nervous as it was in the past about the security dilemmas in the Western Balkans. Therefore, NATO perceived no urgency, and it was more cautious and reflective before it invited the A3 countries to join the Alliance.
Is the regional stability strengthened if NATO invites countries that do not posses the democratic credentials? It was possible during the Cold War when the security concerns were more acute. However, it cannot happen nowadays because the citizens of the A3 countries themselves are fully aware that they should fulfil a number of standards in order to join NATO. In fact, NATO has no reason to undertake such a step in the Balkans nowadays. For over a decade NATO has been present in the Western Balkan. It is precisely here where NATO carried out its first military action outside its territory. NATO has thousands of troops in the region and it has shown it possesses the political will to continue its current commitment in the region. All the countries in the region and their political elites are aware of this fact and consequently NATO has no need, because of security reasons, to show lenience and invite countries that do not deserve to be invited. In the Balkans NATO and the European Union urge the countries to continue their domestic transformation through the democratic consolidation and respect for the rule of law. On the contrary, an undeserved invitation diminishes the possibilities to give them incentives and motivate these countries. It constitutes a bad example to the other countries in the region because it would show to them they could be invited without conducting the necessary reforms. In fact the unprecedented transformation that NATO and the European Union have achieved in the oldest state system in the world, the European continent, is accomplished by encouraging the domestic transformation of the member states. The same rationale is valid for the countries of the Western Balkan, too.
The invitation to Albania, although Macedonia remained outside because of the Greek veto, indicates the major change that has taken place in the way how the regional security is perceived. Despite the problems Macedonia had with its other neighbours, it was clear the Albanians were the decisive factor in its stability. The substantial number of the Albanians in Macedonia, and the existence of Kosova and Albania, transformed the Albanians into a key factor to Macedonia’s stability. The assumption shared at the beginning, by NATO’s member states, that they should invite only Croatia and leave outside en bloc both Macedonia and Albania, if Macedonia was not going to get invited because of the Greek veto, reflected the strong connection between these two countries. This approach was consistent with the foregoing perception of the regional security. Kosova’s independence strengthened the Albanian factor in the Balkans and the invitation to Albania to join NATO, while Macedonia remained outside, could be conceived as a threatening message. It didn’t happen like that. Macedonia’s stability continues to be important, but its security is not considered as linked to that of Albania as it did, until very recently. Consequently, another regional and geopolitical factor that could have affected the NATO invitation to Albania lost some of its importance. In fact if this factor was going to have any influence, it would have been a negative one, diminishing our chances to be invited.
Can we spot other factors that possibly influenced the invitation? Yes, and we should mention the most important one. The membership of Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia into NATO, although very important, did guarantee that the Balkans was not left outside the Alliance’s map and that of the European Union. However, it had no direct influence on the states of the Western Balkans embraced by a different development dynamics. The invitation to join NATO renders the Euro-Atlantic perspective of Croatia, Albania (and Macedonia) and other states, too, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosova, as more touchable and real. It is expected to have a positive influence on the democratic consolidation and respect for the rule of law in these countries, and especially in Serbia.
What domestic developments made possible the invitation? We should point out that the political accomplishments are overwhelming.
1. Free and fair elections. The 2005 elections, despite the problems they had, ought to be considered generally free because they did not prevent the political rotation. Similarly, in the 2007 local elections the government did not interfere to manipulate the election results. The results of the elections in the main cities, and especially, the results in Durr쳬 where the opposition won with around 300 votes and there were 1200 invalid ballots, or in Elbasan, where the opposition won by over 700 votes and the voting was not carried out in an election centre with more than 700 voters, clearly displayed that the government did not interfere in the local elections. There was going to be no invitation to join NATO if the government had interfered in the 2007 local elections.
2. Freedom of the media. The present government has pursued a clear policy of non-interference in the media’s editorial policy. Media outlets that were critical to the government, from the beginning, continue to maintain the same critical position and their circulation has even increased. The government made a political decision that separated it from the past. It decided not to bring charges against journalists and it is supporting in parliament a draft law that decriminalises the libel, i.e. it erases libel as an offence from the Penal Code and defines it more correctly in the Civil Code.
3. The war against the organised crime. It is a very important achievement that demanded political commitment. The lack of the political will to fight organised crime and the failure to organise free and fair elections were the two most important factors that had damaged our country so much. Albanian citizens were penalised in so many ways because our country was in the black lists of those countries that do not fight crime and are transit ones for illegal trafficking. The successes of the government in the war against the organised crime are visible and tangible. This is not propaganda. The results of the war against the organised crime are quantifiable, such as, the number of people trafficked, or the amount of narcotics that is transited through Albania and caught in the Italian coast, or the international judicial cooperation with different members of the European Union, the passing of the law on the moratorium of private boats, the war against the cultivation of cannabis, etc. And the results are measured by our international partners, especially our neighbours, members of NATO and the European Union.
4. The Albanian military contribution in the missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the increase of the military budget to 2% of the country’s GDP before the deadline indicated our clear political will to achieve the military goals, although they carry a huge cost for a small country with a lot of economic problems.
5. The creation of a constructive atmosphere for the collaboration between the government and the opposition, during the period that preceded the receiving of the invitation, played an important role in the decision that was made in Bucharest. The launch of the judicial reform, the passing of the first law on the “judicial power”, the passing of the joint declaration and the start of the debate on concrete proposals about the electoral reform, significantly improved our country’s image.
The invitation to join NATO was not important for the sake of an empty rhetoric and the political debate. It was a major objective that required the commitment of all the political and institutional resources of the government. In the end, we can say that the invitation rendered to Albania to join NATO was the result of domestic achievement that coincided with the improved regional situation.