Professor: Bosnia's interest in NATO membership is logical

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Bosnia’s interest in becoming a NATO member is logical because the strength of a nation is measured by the level of its integration in the international system and the country should work toward becoming part of the family of progressive democratic nations, Professor at the Political Science Faculty in Sarajevo, Selmo Cikotic, said on Saturday.

He spoke at a conference in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of the Serb-dominated semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity, where the issue of Bosnia’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) for NATO was discussed.

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NATO has no interest in Bosnia becoming a member of the alliance and asks for nothing from the country, but Bosnia will bear the consequences if it is left as a “lonely island” at the margins of world developments, he said.

The former Defence Minister said that the country needs an agreement among all of its internal institutions about the issue, which, he argued, is more important than what the country will achieve on the international level. The wisdom here is to find solutions that will equally satisfy and frustrate all of Bosnia’s citizens, he said.

“We don’t have to agree on membership, but we can talk about sending out the Annual National Programme, which means an active role and progress for Bosnia’s Armed Forces,” Cikotic told reporters.

According to the Professor at the Banja Luka Faculty of Law, Mile Dmicic, Bosnia’s participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace Programme does not predict a future membership in NATO.

“For Bosnia it is important that it is emphasised that an agreement between the representatives of the two semi-autonomous entities and Bosnia’s three constituent peoples is needed for any activities regarding the Membership Action Plan for NATO,” he said.

The director of the Belgrade-based ‘Eurasian Security Forum’, Mitar Kovac, said that Bosnia should remain a militarily neutral country as there are different opinions on the country’s potential NATO membership in its two entities.

While Republika Srpska prefers a relationship with Russia, the other semi-autonomous entity, the Federation (FBiH), prefers NATO, he said.

“The logical way to overcome the deadlock would be for Bosnia to not lean to either of them, so it doesn’t attract the big powers into a conflict on its territory,” he said.

He said he believes the political elite of all three constituent peoples in Bosnia will, in the end, decide for the country to remain neutral as any imposed solution could bring about conflict and other negative consequences for the citizens.