On 10th March 2008 beginning at 18:00 at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Skopje, a public debate was held on “The changes in the structure of NATO and the implications for the Western Balkans in light of the Bucharest Summit, where a speech was given by the prominent Dr. Nano Ruzin, Macedonian Ambassador to NATO. The debate was organised jointly by the Institute for Democracy (IDSCS) and the Skopje office of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). In future, the IDSCS and FES will continue to organise public debates on current affairs and issues, with renowned speakers from home and abroad.

Dr. Nano Ruzin is a university professor, political scientist, representative and diplomat. He was educated at universities in Belgrade, Zagreb and Paris (Sorbonne) at the Institute for Political Science and the French Institute for International Relations. He is the author of dozens of scientific studies in the field of social policy and international relations which represent his two main fields of scientific and practical focus.

The issue of NATO and the joining the Alliance is the focal point of his work and efforts. He was the founder of the Euro­Atlantic Club of Macedonia and was also President of the Macedonian parliamentary delegation to the North­Atlantic Assembly. As of May 2001 he is the Ambassador and Head of the Mission of the Republic of Macedonia to the Alliance in Brussels and early this year was awarded the prestigous prize of the 2007 NATO Ambassador of the Year.

At the beginning of his address, Mr Nano Ruzin expressed his satisfaction at fact that there has been ten years of cooperation between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Institute for Democracy, the two organisers of this event. He thanked the guests for showing interest in this topic. Mr Ruzin said that he will use this public debate as an introduction to the NATO summit on 2 April 2008. He began to point out the domestic questions in relation to Macedonia’s entry into NATO. The first question according to him was, what can the Summit bring and what are the consequences for Macedonia? It was highlighted that the President Vladimir Putin, President George Bush and President Nicola Sarkozy will meet. The Ambassador also pointed out the dynamic context of the summit because of the concerns of NATO in relation to Afghanistan, Kosovo and the acceptance of new members.
A few main topics of discussion at the Summit in Bucharest will be: NATO­Russia relations, Ukraine­Russia, the Anti­Missile Shield in Central and Eastern Europe; Nuclear threat from Iran, the Alliance’s new strategic concept; the complete procedure for the accession treaties should be completed by the start of the upcoming summer.

Firstly, the serious problems in Afghanistan and the lack of will to send military forces to these areas is a topic which will seriously need to be addressed at the Summit in Bucharest. For the purpose of illustrating the difficulties in the Alliance, the Ambassador recalled that Napoleon who in his time stated that he liked to wage war against alliances, as opposed to being part of them.

The second particularly important topic was the new strategic concept of the Alliance due to the inflexibility of the previous strategic concept of the Alliance to deal successfully with the new problems of terrorism. The new strategy should make available more diplomatic instruments as used in the crisis in the Republic of Macedonia. Now is the time for that to succeed outside of the framework of Europe too.

In relation to the situation in Kosovo, the Alliance is satisfied with the current situation, because a massive exodus has been averted, there were no attacks on sacred sites, ethnic conflict or mass migration. However it is expected that at the Summit there will be a disparity in relations between countries which have not recognised this new state and those states which have.

The question of the acceptance of new members will also be one of the most important points of discussion at the Summit. Following the end of the Cold War there have been two successful rounds of enlargement and the experience of the Member­States were that the policy of accepting new members should be into order and that there are certain national duties to be fulfilled before joining.

Due to various impediments, Macedonia, Croatia and Albania were not accepted into NATO after 11 September 2001. The Macedonian impediment was the crisis at the time in the country, Croatia had problems in cooperating with the Hague Tribunal, while Albania had problems with reforms.

Of all these reforms in Macedonia were taken on by citizens, organisations and the government and the opposition. Our ticket to the Alliance was the Ohrid Framework Agreement, whose importance maybe we still not realise as a generation, however that is respected by other states and all indicators in the last year show that we have a big chance to become part of the Alliance.

Next, it was pointed that there are a few signs of optimism. Firstly, the fact that in the second half of 2007 George Bush said that the issue of NATO enlargement was a success of the Summit. In 2002 those Member­States which won support through the Solomon Pact received 1­2 million dollars in financial aid and Macedonia, Albania and Croatia received this assistance. For more than a year, we are in second place close to Croatia and we have achieved much more than Albania which ­truth be told ­has undertaken much larger reforms in recent time. The theory that only one of these countries will enter NATO is unfounded because so much fuss would not be made for just one country. The country theory states that Macedonia and Croatia will be admitted, while Albania will be excluded. Currently, with Greece threatening a veto due to the name issue, there is fear in Tirana that its invitation is also in doubt. Another reason for optimism that a solution will be found to the name problem is that the America itself is making efforts for us to be accepted. At the last meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs technical documents in relation to invitations to join the Alliance were adopted.

Further on, the four stages at which an invitation to join could be blocked were outlined. Even if Macedonia is given an invitation, expert teams from NATO will perform an assessment to determine what we have achieved (Membership Action Plan). At that moment, if a representative in this team says that he/she does not agree that the country should become a member of the Alliance, a veto may follow. If a Treaty is signed, the Prime Minister then sends it to the Parliament and if he does not send it then there will be no entry into the Alliance. In the event that the Treaty is sent to Parliament, it may not be ratified by MPs and there will be no entry into NATO. Finally the Parliament may ratify the document, but the President may refuse to sign it into law.

The benefits of NATO entry primarily are that we become part of the defence mechanism, the country will be continually under observation (aeroplanes will monitor the borders with the states which are not members of NATO). Furthermore, defence spending will be much less, as we will have an army relative to our needs. If we enter NATO we will become a part of it and therefore will discuss world affairs and be able to veto processes which are not in our interest. One of the most important reasons for entering NATO at the moment is the flow of foreign investment which will follow and which will enable the situation in the country to stabilise. Here the example of Slovenia was given whose entry into NATO resulted in a huge rise in the value of the stock market.

An especially important reason for us to enter NATO now at the upcoming summit is the fact that if we do not join now, we will have to wait until 2014 and apply for membership together with Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Ukraine and Georgia. The Summit in 2009 will not accept new members.

Again, at the end of the speech, Ambassador Nano Ruzin expressed his optimism and conviction that we will enter NATO. He also stressed the importance of the USA to the stability of the Balkans. Macedonia is a contributor to the peace in Afghanistan and with its multicultural model, Macedonia is a model for the region. Mr Ruzin recalled that Lord George Robertson has stated that the security of London, Paris and Madrid is secured in Afghanistan and added that indeed our security too is defended in Afghanistan.

He was convinced that if Bin Laden had weapons he would use them and thus even Macedonia would not be safe. Having in mind that in managing the crisis in Macedonia, foreign soldiers treated our soldiers with respect which always are the first ones they meet in Kabul. Inter­state conflicts in recent times have not occurred and if Greece and Turkey were not members of NATO there may have been some conflict of that kind. When one country is attacked by another, Article 5 is activated however there are diplomatic instruments which are used beforehand. NATO is not just a military pact it is also an organisation which cares for healthy food, deals with natural disasters and accidents. The fact that we were not a member of NATO did not allow us to have a company which would produce the building materials necessary to repair the bridges in Macedonia which will not be the case when we become a member of the Alliance.

The Ambassador stated that just as Macedonian learns from its mistakes, NATO also learns from its own and expressed satisfaction at some of the steps that NATO has undertaken to improve its image. For example it has learnt that it has to discuss with and respect journalists, it recognised that it had bad PR with a military figure giving political views.

In relation to the role that Macedonia should play in relation to the stabilisation of Kosovo, Mr Ruzin answered that Macedonia is a logistical base in case of a crisis in Kosovo. It will be a sad tale if membership is not achieved because relations may deteriorate, citizens will become disillusioned however he was not convinced that it will occur. Recognised as the “Ambassador of the Year” an award that was bestowed on him in Brussels in March 2008 by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the publication “Diplomatic News” which is the first award of its kind awarded to a Macedonian diplomat Mr Ruzin said that it is an award for Macedonia to encourage future positive efforts.