Slovenia ratifies Albania’s, Croatia’s NATO accession protocols

TIRANA, Feb 10 – Slovenia’s parliament ratified on Monday the NATO accession protocols of Albania and Croatia, a move delayed due to Slovenia’s internal spat last month.
Croatia’s accession to the alliance was supported by 75 deputies, while 11 MPs from the opposition People’s Party and National Party were against it, the Slovenian news agency STA reported.
Before moving to Croatia’s protocol, the parliament ratified Albania’s protocol by 78 votes.
Albanian Foreign Ministry and the parliament hailed the Slovenian vote.
Croatia and Albania expect the process of ratification of the protocols on their accession to NATO to be completed until next month in all NATO member states, so they can become full members of NATO at its summit in Strasbourg and Kehl in April.
The two countries received the invitation to join the alliance at the Bucharest summit in April 2008 and in July signed the membership protocols that are now being ratified by all NATO member countries.