Exactly one year after Albania became a full NATO member country along with Croatia, the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) held a conference on Wednesday discussing Albania’s domestic and foreign policy balance sheets.
The “One year after NATO membership: The domestic and foreign policy balance sheets” conference organized by the AIIS in cooperation with the NATO Public Diplomacy Division and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation brought together politicians, diplomats and military officials, analysts from Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia.
Addressing participants, the executive director of AIIS, Albert Rakipi, described Albania’s NATO accession as the country’s most historical event after the collapse of the communist regime in the early 90s, considering the broad public support of more than 90 percent. He said the membership was a result of achievements and reforms in the past 20 years such as the political maturity, the reformation of the military forces and their active participation in peace-keeping missions around the world.
One year after accession, politicians of the main two camps hold different views of the country’s political life with the opposition saying that the political climate has worsened while the ruling Democrats think the country has moved forward meeting standards and strengthening institutions.
The deputy Defence Minister Arjan Starova said that one year after NATO membership Albania was continuing to carry out reforms despite political debates.
He said that Albania’s future challenges included the country’s increased participation in peace-keeping missions, the increase of interactivity with allied forces, the shift to a professional military force within 2010, further improvement of legislation, development of human resources and demilitarization.
Meanwhile, Valentina Leskaj, a member of the opposition Socialist Party who was part of Albania’s delegation in the Bucharest Summit in 2008 when Albania and Croatia were invited to join NATO also addressed the conference. She said the NATO membership had brought a positive impact on the foreign policy improving the country’s image abroad and would be an advantage for the country’s EU integration. However, she said that the political climate in Albania was better before Albania’s accession than after it because of the ongoing political crisis after the general elections last year.
Former Defence Minister Gazmend Oketa who was in office when Albania became a NATO member said that after membership, the challenge of Albania and the whole region was the EU integration.
Ambassador Davor Bozinovic, the State Secretary for Political Affairs in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, said both Croatia and Albania had fulfilled their expectations with the NATO membership, sharing his country’s experience. He said the membership had further increased security and stability in the Balkan region, promising continuous cooperation with Albania.
James Snyder of the NATO Public Diplomacy Division said the accession of Albania and Croatia was a signal for membership of other regional countries such as Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. “Reform is important and needs to continue,” said Snyder.
Fabrizio Luciolli, the Secretary General of the Italian Atlantic Committee, expressed Italy’s support to Albania, as a representative of a country which is the first trade partner, investor and donor in Albania. “Economic development needs security and stability,” said Luciolli.
Meanwhile, professor Ylber Sela of the Tetovo University said that Macedonia’s failure to become a NATO member because of the name dispute with Greece had damaged NATO’s image.
Milan Jazbec, the director of the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sandro Knezovic of the Institute of Foreign Relations in Zagreb shared their countries’ experience of NATO membership.
Albania’s NATO accession in April 2009 was undeniably a historical event, considering that Albania was a former Warsaw Pact country and saw one of the harshest, most isolationist rules in the world during the Cold War period, said the AIIS in a statement.
AIIS says membership is now linked to a domestic reforms agenda that goes beyond the strictly defined security sector (the military) to include requirements that aim at the democratization and at state-building.
Albania To Celebrate 1-Year NATO Membership
Albanian authorities have planed a series of activities to celebrate the country’s membership into NATO. Albania became a NATO member last year.
The Defence Ministry, other government institutions and civic ones are to hold a series of activities starting from forums, meetings to concerts.
Once considering the alliance the world’s worst creation post-communist Tirana became the first former communist country in Eastern Europe to ask for membership into NATO, signing the Partnership for Peace agreement.
The tiny Balkan country has reformed its army turning it into a totally professional one this year, also taking part in many peacekeeping missions NATO has around the world, like that in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
