Montenegro Moves Closer to NATO, Bosnia Lags behind

It said in a statement it is granting Montenegro its request to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a NATO programme of advice, assistance and practical support tailored to the individual needs of countries that wish to join the Alliance.

“It’s the result of hard work," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

"And with a sustained effort at further reform, today’s invitation to join the MAP will be a stepping stone to the ultimate goal: full membership in the Atlantic Alliance.”

While progress in defence reform has already been made, Bosnia will need to achieve progress in other areas to join MAP.

“The fact that three armies that so recently fought each other are now one, under one Defence Ministry, is a real achievement,” Rasmussen said.

“But it is also true that Bosnia-Herzegovina has not yet made the progress we would like to see in political reform; in constitutional reform; in creating a single, unified Government that can take tough decisions and carry out necessary reforms,” he added.

A political deadlock among Bosnia’s top leaders representing its three main ethnic groups - Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats – on the future role of the international overseeing body in the country, as well as on constitutional reform, has stalled political, legislative and economic reforms aimed at building closer ties with the European Union and NATO.

Bosnia consists of a Muslim-Croat Federation, a Serb Republic and a neutral Brcko District, formed by the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which put an end to the ethnic war in the Balkan country. Each of the regions has its own government and parliament, which are linked in a weak central government.

Albania and Croatia were the latest countries in the region to join NATO in April. The membership of Macedonia has been blocked by Greece over a name row.