Following Albania’s full NATO Membership and an apparent need for further and deeper analysis in this regard, “Tirana Times” has launched a forum that seeks to discuss the significance and implications of this membership for Albania and the region.
The forum presents the opinions of the following well-known experts:
Besnik Mustafaj -MP, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of Board of Directors
Remzi Lani – Director, Albanian Media Institute
Petraq Pojani – Ambassador, Director of Albanian Council on Foreign Policy
Piro Misha – Director, Institute for Dialogue and Communication
Lutfi Dervishi – Editor in Chief, Tirana Times
On the following themes/questions:
1. Significance of NATO membership for Albania
2. Short, medium and long-term benefits of Albania ‘s NATO membership
3. Obligations springing off NATO Membership
4. Effect of Albania ‘s and Croatia ‘s NATO membership on Balkan politics and security
1. Significance of NATO
membership for Albania
Besnik Mustafaj
NATO Membership has multiple benefits for Albania. It naturally has a significant strategic importance for the security of the country, a concept highly elaborated during the years as Albania worked to meet required standards. However, I would take the opportunity to also highlight the psychological importance that such integration has for the Albanian society, which with this integration gets concrete proof of a final breaking with the past. This psychological impact will help our society feel more self-confident in the process of still-painful reforms that are required for the modernization of the country. On the other hand, the accession is also important for Albania’s image, which will not only no longer be a consumer of security, but will be one of the countries contributing to global security, peace and stability.
Remzi Lani
Undoubtedly, this is the most important step Albania makes in its return path to the West. On one hand, it is an acknowledgement of the country’s democratic progress and reforms conducted during the two decades of post-communist transition. On the other hand, it is an acknowledgement of the geo-strategic importance of our country in a still problematic region and a in a world headed towards uncertainty.
Petraq Pojani
Albania’s membership in the biggest military and political alliance of the time, enriched by other dimensions, is undoubtedly one of the most important moments in our history.
Albania in NATO is an institutional reaffirmation of Albanians’ European civilisation and identity, of the western socio-political model of the Albanian state based on the division of powers, protection of human rights and the secular character of the state.
Albania in NATO, alongside Croatia and other Balkan countries, not only guarantees its sovereignty in the Balkans, but it also simultaneously breaks that paradigm that has always conceived of Albania as an Eastern, Muslim, Balkan state; it breaks those divisive but traversable lines historically based on Hellenic, Slavic-orthodox and Slavic-catholic civilisations, etc.
Albania in NATO signifies the country’s active participation in the establishment of a new world order based on peace, democracy and the free movement of ideas, people, values and capital.
Lastly, Albania in NATO signifies the fulfilment of the free will of the Albanian people that toppled the totalitarian regime, that encouraged massive emigration, significantly, to the West, that has unanimously inspired its NATO and soon EU accession and that with its strength and determination has made the political class act.
Lutfi Dervishi
NATO membership comprises an important step in the fulfillment of the objectives of the political class for integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. NATO is a political alliance and the affirmation of the common values of freedom, democracy, market economy, rule of law, judiciary independence and media independence is a solid guarantee that Albania unequivocally shares these values.
2. Short, medium and long-term benefits of Albania ‘s NATO membership
Besnik Mustafaj
It seems difficult to clearly classify the short, medium and long-term benefits. I consider it of even higher importance to look at the areas where these benefits will be visible. I believe that the Albanian political class has rightly understood NATO integration as a responsibility that should be reflected firstly and most immediately in the strengthening of democracy and rule of law. At the same time, no one in Albania should think that the transformation of the army and its preparation for new challenges is a process that concluded with accession to NATO. Now, the Albanian army, via cooperation with the armies of the most developed democratic countries, will have great opportunities to conduct deep and fast modernizing internal reforms. We can also not underestimate the effects on the economy, despite the fact that these will be indirect. A NATO member, which Albania now is, a priori offers to foreign investors a stronger guarantee of security and stability.
Remzi Lani
In the short term, Albania consolidates its own security, improves its image and draws attention towards itself. In the medium term, the fact that we are members of a western club of security like NATO will impact the attraction of foreign investments, as shown by Bulgaria’s and Romania’s experiences. In the long term, NATO membership will serve our integration into the European Union. Being a member of a club of western democracies will assist our faster procession to the EU. So far, no former communist country has been accepted to the EU before previously passing the NATO door. To clarify further, as NATO member we will be treated more seriously for EU membership, although the two are of course not the same thing.
Petraq Pojani
The main and immediate benefit of Albania’s NATO accession is undoubtedly the indisputable reaffirmation of its sovereignty, now under the protection of a great alliance.
This is already a positive factor for Albania’s integration in the EU at the smallest delay.
On a larger scale, this event will directly contribute to the economic, cultural and social development of the country by creating a climate of trust and safety for foreign investments and international cooperation, as well as to the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law.
Lutfi Dervishi
For the other countries of the former Eastern block, NATO membership has also been considered a transition to the European Union. With the entrance into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, it is difficult to ask a NATO member country to wait a bit longer and not seek the status of a candidate state. Unfortunately, we are living through a severe global economic crisis where no one can guarantee that they have seen the bottom and where there are no chances for scenarios where a country witnesses a quadrupling of foreign investments in a year (as was the case of Bulgaria). However, the country’s placement in the security area has many medium and long term benefits. If we can divulge, it is as if the car that you drive on minimal insurance, you ensure for full coverage with the strongest insurance company the world has ever known. NATO membership also in a way limits external leverage towards the government and the political class in general and that further boosts the responsibility of the political class in Tirane.
3. Obligations springing off
NATO Membership
Besnik Mustafaj
There are many obligations. I consider it very positive that the senior leaders of the state, whether the President of the Republic or the Head of the Government, in their inaugural speeches on the day of accession to NATO committed the country to meeting all obligations. These obligations are principle-based, and here I am talking about the continuation of reforms that seek the fine-tuning of democratic standards in all aspects of life in the country, just as they are also field contributions in large operations in service of global peace and stability, in which NATO is involved. These obligations, without going on to details, are also organically linked to the benefits derived from accession in the Alliance.
Remzi Lani
NATO membership first of all means that democratic processes in Albania will be irreversible. I would not like to dwell on the military or financial obligations that come from this process, as they are well-known, but rather focus on the tests we need to pass, now not as a candidate but as a member of the Alliance. The June elections comprise the fundamental one.
Petraq Pojani
Membership in an alliance requires that member states share not only benefits but also responsibilities. Albania has already given proof of its willingness to fulfil all obligations by taking part in peace-keeping missions of the alliance, in the war against terrorism and threats to world peace and democratic development.
Though of a different nature, approximation of the necessary legal provisions, including constitutional ones, is another, immediate obligation of membership in this Alliance. Lastly, just like EU integration, NATO membership requires undertaking continuous reforms towards the consolidation of the rule of law and democracy through the wide participation of all political and societal actors.
Lutfi Dervishi
Each member country has its own obligations. De facto, Albania has tried to behave as a member country for a number of years. The official record of relationships with NATO starts in 1992, with the request for membership in the Council of the Northern Atlantic and continued with the offering of the country’s land, air and sea bases for the Alliance in 1995, during the war in former Yugoslavia and in 1999, during the war in Kosovo, as well as with the deployment of troops in Bosnia (1996) and Afghanistan (2003). The concept of security and the mission of NATO are not what they were upon the creation of the Alliance in 1949. In 2004, we saw the case of Estonia, which was threatened by Russia in cyberspace!…With the dislocation of troops in Afghanistan, outside the traditional area of Alliance’s operations, NATO is increasingly taking upon the role of the “global police” and as a member, Albania should be prepared to play its role according to its means. The tendency to offer more than we can afford should be replaced by realism.
4. Effect of Albania ‘s and Croatia ‘s NATO membership on Balkan politics and
security
Besnik Mustafaj
In a summarized form, I would say that the accession of Albania and Croatia to NATO means a visibly greater presence of NATO in the Balkans, which comprises a strong thrust forward for the attempts of the region to once and for all part from its bad legacy of dramatic conflicts among neighbors. The political leadership of the countries of the region will thus more than ever be encouraged to enhance close regional cooperation on security, based on the concept that our security is shared. As a basic concept of NATO, shared security comprises the only way in which the Balkan countries can foster among themselves the lacked space of trust.
Remzi Lani
The accession of Albania and Croatia constitutes an expansion of the security umbrella in the Balkans and the consolidation of the NATO security cordon in the Mediterranean. Now, almost the entire Adriatic shore, on both sides, belongs to NATO.
I believe the Balkan has reason to feel more secure after the accession of Albania and Croatia. I believe that even those surrounded by NATO or concerned that Tirana and Zagreb are now members of the Alliance, should become realistic. They should at the least not live with the paranoia of the Greater Albania and the Greater Croatia, as the two countries’ membership in the Alliance renders these agendas impossible.
Petraq Pojani
The negative factors that have caused century long wars in the region are now weakened. The negative legacy of the region can now be overcome. The dedicated commitment of the Balkans’ countries to resolve the problems and difficulties of the past will justify the optimism that is spurred by their NATO integration.
Lutfi Dervishi
As the debate on Georgia’s and Ukraine’s NATO accession has shown, the case of Albania and Croatia is an entirely different thing. Accession in this case seems natural due to geography and is expected to be followed by others to come. With their accession, Albania and Croatia open the way for other countries. Macedonia is ready when it solves the name issue with Greece and Monte Negro and Bosnia seem closer. Serbia remains the last in the region. Kosova is on its way to consolidation as a country and Serbia’s “siege” by member countries only exerts positive pressure to join the rest. The region has been the starting point of World War I and has witnessed monstrous crimes in the middle of the nineties, unthinkable of happening in the European continent. With Albania’s and Croatia’s accession, the region gains more security, peace and why not, even prosperity.
Piro Misha: NATO membership a credible
guarantee of democratization
There has been a lot of retorics regarding the importance of Albania’s NATO membership these last days, so I do not want to repeat any of it. Understandably, there have been also a lot of speculations regarding the reasons why Albanians in their overwhelming majority support the idea of Albania being part of NATO or for that, even EU. They easily pass from arguments related to history (or pseudohistory) to pragmatic considerations, like those having to do with the visa issue and free circulation of people. Strangely, I haven’t heard one argument mentioned though, at least in my opinion, it constitutes quite an important part (at least at elite level) of the reason why many Albanians were (and are) so eager to join NATO (or EU).
Democracy is still fragile and trust in democratic institutions remains still low in Albania. There are many those who are afraid of setbacks. Consequently, for many intellectuals who estimate that Albania’s NATO membership (and later on EU membership) remains the only real and credible guarantee of the ongoing process of democratization and Westernatization of Albania. It is perceived as a guarantee against Albania’ slipping back to the past.
