Garčević on U.S. Senate Vote on Montenegro’s NATO Bid
Amb. Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Frederick S.Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on the United States Senate decision to ratify Montenegro’s accession to NATO. Senators voted 97-2 to admit Montenegro, with only Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah voting “no.” Once a country is invited to join NATO, all members of the Alliance must ratify its bid.
Garcevic was interview for a March 26, 2017, segment on a regional TV network in the Balkans, First TV (TV Prva).
He said his expectation is that President Donald Trump will sign and confirm the Senate decision, thus bringing closure to the procedure in the U.S. Garcevic said that despite Trump’s criticisms of NATO during his presidential campaign, the White House recently promised to finish with ratification shortly after the Senate’s vote and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote a recent letter to the leaders of the Senate to support Montenegro’s membership to NATO, describing it as something which is strongly in the interest of the U.S.
In Garcevic’s opinion, this decision not only sends a clear signal that the U.S. supports Montenegro’s bid for membership, but it is also a message that the U.S. continues to stand behind countries wishing to embrace western values. The voting is a victory of those in the U.S. Senate who want to push back Russia’s growing attempts to undermine, suspend or completely halt the Open-door policy of NATO. He mentioned that after the U.S. ratification, there was only one member state, Spain, left to ratify the Protocol of accession of Montenegro to NATO, which would likely happen in several days.
As Garcevic explained, this decision cleared the way for Montenegro to become a full-fledged member of NATO on its summit on May 25 in Brussel where the current administration is expected to express its opinion how it sees the cooperation with European partners in years to come.
Prior to joining the Pardee School faculty, Amb. Garčević served as National Coordinator for NATO in Montenegro, where he managed inter-agency coordination and NATO public campaign promoting Montenegro’s membership to the organization.