Moscow Considers Naive To Think Montenegro, North Macedonia To Enter EU After Joining NATO

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published April 15, 2019 | 07:28 PM

The idea that Montenegro and North Macedonia may count on a "pass" to the European Union thanks to their accession to NATO seems to be naive, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2019) The idea that Montenegro and North Macedonia may count on a "pass" to the European Union thanks to their accession to NATO seems to be naive, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik on Monday.

"What do these candidate countries count on? On getting 'more security for less money'? Such slogans were used by NATO in the early 2010s and it was called 'smart defense.' However, in the end, for the sake of the so called solidarity, they will be forced to pay a higher price as defense spending and security risks will increase. [Do they expect that] the 'pass' to the European Union will follow? It seems to be naive," Grushko said.

According to the diplomat, the presence of foreign military and hardware in Montenegro and North Macedonia along with alarmist rhetoric cannot help promote a favorable investment climate in these countries.

"Foreign investments in the infrastructure and the deployment of troops have a temporal rather then a long-term or a comprehensive effect on the economy.

In addition, when joining the alliance, countries are forced to automatically join its generally unfriendly line in relation to our country, which will also cause serious damage to their economies," Grushko added.

Macedonia and Greece struck a deal last June on changing the Balkan state's name to North Macedonia that ended a decades-long row between the countries and cleared a path for Skopje to join NATO. The accession protocol on North Macedonia's joining NATO was signed at the alliance's headquarters on February 6 shortly before Macedonia's name change took effect.

In June 2017, Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO. A significant part of the population of this former Yugoslav republic opposed joining to the alliance, with protests taking place across the country.