Montenegro wants to be a member of NATO in three years

Montenegro wants to be a member of NATO in three years


Vienna - Montenegro wants to be a member of NATO in three years' time, Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said in an interview in the weekend edition of the Vienna newspaper Die Presse.

'At the latest in September, we want to continue the talks with the EU about a stabilization and association agreement, and in about three years we want to be a NATO member,' Vlahovic said.
Asked about the deep split in Montenegrin society in the independence question, he said the best way towards reconciliation between the two camps was 'a joint European agenda.'
'Ninety per cent of Montegenrins have the view that accession to the EU must be the highest strategic goal. That links us all,' Vlahovic said.
Also, polls had shown that many former opponents of Montenegrin independence now supported a sovereign state.
In a referendum on May 21 this year, about 55.5 per cent of voters supported independence for the small Balkan republic which had previously been in a federation with Serbia. In June, independence was proclaimed and also recognized by the EU.
Vlahovic said big challenges faced the new state with its approximately 620,000 population. 'We must show now that the independent statehood we demanded in past years was not merely for its own sake.'
The most important aim was an improvement in the legal system. 'We must prove that we are a country in which the political structures are transparent, and the government is aware of its responsibility.'

© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur