• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Serbia - Relations with NATO

Serbia had been on the path to join the European Union, but under political and propaganda pressure from Moscow steadily slid toward the Kremlin and its goal of keeping the countries in the Balkan region out of NATO and other Western integrations. Serbia will never seek to become part of NATO, since the military alliance devastated the country and killed its citizens, Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic said on 24 March 2017, on the anniversary day of the launch of Yugoslavia bombings by NATO in 1999. "The Republic of Serbia will not seek to become part of the alliance, which so cruelly ravaged our land and killed our children, and of no other alliance. We only want to be independent, to live in peace, and what is most importantly, to preserve our freedom," Vucic said.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said 19 February 2016 that Serbia would not be joining NATO, as it wants to stay militarily neutral. Belgrade is part of the NATO's Partnership for Peace program alongside other former Yugoslav republics. Its Individual Partnership Action Plan entered into force in January 2015. Serbia is also an observer state in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and an associate member in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

While Serbia cooperates with NATO via the Partnership for Peace Program, it does not intend to pursue NATO membership in the foreseeable future. This is mostly due to lasting public anger over the 1999 NATO bombing campaign which forced then-President Slobodan Milosevic to halt his ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosovo. It also reflects both Serbia's interest in walking a fine line between Russia and the West.

NATO’s Secretary General in his speech on 29 June 2011 stated that “Serbia’s future lies in peaceful cooperation with its neighbors and with the European Union and NATO. […] We have made good progress these past few years in developing a sound basis for partnership and cooperation. It is now up to Serbia to decide if it wants to move forwards in its cooperation with NATO, and how fast.”

There is relatively low public support for the Euro-Atlantic integration (as of June, 2011)

• 69,4% against NATO membership
• 64,8% Support to military neutrality
• 59,3% Support to EU membership
• 15,6% Support to NATO membership

By 2010 Serbia's public debate over NATO membership was alternately irrational and sophisticated, a clash between anger over the past and longing for future relevance. Opponents of membership paint NATO as an anti-Russian war machine, focus on the 1999 intervention, and claim Serbia would be forced to recognize Kosovo in order to join. Advocates noted that Serbia will soon be surrounded by NATO members - some, even within the government, supporting Euro-Atlantic integration of the entire region - and appeal for a more pragmatic approach. Increasingly, the arguments became sober, analytic and economic.

NATO committed to working with Serbia on defence reform. In May 2003 NATO Allies agreed a Tailored Co-operation Program for Serbia and Montenegro, which helped to prepare Serbia for PfP membership. Serbia and Montenegro adopted a Defence Strategy in November 2004 and a White Paper in April 2005, making progress on defence reform. Separation from Montenegro triggered urgent changes in the structure of the armed forces. To date, both countries have handled the restructuring sensitively and maturely. In 2006 the Serbian government completed a Strategic Defence Review which committed Serbia to considerable restructuring which will prepare the armed forces for involvement in multilateral defence activity.

At the NATO Riga Summit on 29 November 2006, Serbia was invited to join the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. PfP aims to promote regional stability by supporting defence reform and defence diplomacy activities between NATO Allies and PfP members. Allies decided to grant Serbia PfP to reflect the progress made on crucial defence reform issues - an area particularly relevant to NATO. We hope PfP will encourage and facilitate continued progress. Progress on full ICTY co-operation in Serbia remains essential. The NATO Communiqué makes clear that NATO will expect Serbia to co-operate fully with the ICTY and "will closely monitor their respective efforts in this regard".

Partnership for Peace program is the most important NATO initiative, formally initiated in 1994, designed to reinforce trust and cooperation among members of the Alliance and other Euro-Atlantic States with a view to developing and strengthening stability and security in Europe and beyond. The protection and promotion of fundamental freedoms and basic human rights, as well as preservation of freedom, justice and peace through democracy, represent the common values on which the Partnership is built and they are compatible with the values of other international and regional organizations - United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, European Union and others.

Partnership for Peace is a program of bilateral cooperation between NATO as a whole and its individual Member States, which is based on the principles of voluntarity, flexibility and transparency. The Program for each participating country is individual and specific. Participants of the Program independently decide on the level, content and dynamic of partner cooperation, in line with their sovereign rights, national interests, needs and requirements. Although its main focus is on the development of defence cooperation, its political dimension is also very significant as an important factor of the European security architecture. In acceding to the Partnership for Peace, the States affirm their commitment to honour in good faith the obligations arising from the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, to respect the existing borders and to resolve mutual problems by peaceful means. They also affirm their commitment to the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE documents, as well as the commitments undertaken in the field of disarmament and arms control.

In order to join the Program, it is necessary to have the consent of the Alliance which examines the readiness of a candidate country to meet its standards and criteria, and then invites the state which has expressed an interest, to apply. Participation in the PfP and EU membership are not conditioned upon each other, although they are compatible since NATO and the European Union have close value systems, standards and procedures. The political framework for cooperation between NATO and partner countries is the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), a political and security forum which gathers all NATO Member States and PfP participants. The EAPC is a mechanism of political coordination and oversight of all activities within the PfP program, which reviews issues that are relevant for partner cooperation, through political consultations.

Relations between the Republic of Serbia and NATO are specific in many ways - they are the result and reflection of historical circumstances, events from the recent past and of outstanding current issues. The position of NATO regarding the question of Kosovo and Metohija and the fact that most Member States of the Alliance have recognized the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Kosovo, as well as the participation of NATO/KFOR in the establishment of the illegal, so-called Kosovo Security Force, has affected and has inevitably had an impact on the current level of relations between the Republic of Serbia and NATO. However, there is an understanding on both sides that the promotion of partner cooperation, especially through Serbia's participation in the PfP, contributes to stability and confidence building in the Balkans and, more broadly, in the Euro-Atlantic area. In this regard, for the Republic of Serbia, participation in the PfP program is, right now, the most appropriate framework to develop its relations and cooperation with NATO, its Member States and other PfP participating countries, particularly bearing in mind the nature of this program, its flexibility and possibilities for adapting it to individual participants.

Relations between the Republic of Serbia and NATO, in the period which immediately preceded accession to the Program, had been on an ascending line and had manifested themselves through a developed dialogue. Alongside the promotion of its relations with NATO political and military structures, the Republic of Serbia has developed multifaceted bilateral cooperation in the field of security and defence policy with NATO members and PfP countries.

At the NATO Riga Summit on 29 November 2006, the Republic of Serbia was invited, together with Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to join the Partnership for Peace, as stated in the conclusion of the final document of the Summit. It formally became a PfP participant on 14 December 2006, when Serbian President Boris Tadic signed, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the Framework Document containing the fundamental principles of the PfP program. In this way, the Republic of Serbia formally became a participant of the Program with the right to participate in the deliberations of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and NATO committees and working bodies in the format open for partners.

After the signing of the Framework Document, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Presentation Document which Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic delivered at NATO Headquarters, on 5 September 2007. This document defines areas of cooperation with NATO, the activities that the Republic of Serbia intends to undertake in order to achieve the partnership goals, as well as military and other capacities made available to the PfP program. In the Presentation Document, the Republic of Serbia emphasizes the intention to take an active part in the PfP program and the readiness to participate in almost all established mechanisms of the program, including the Individual Partnership Action Plan, as a more advanced form of cooperation. The Document, however, does not envisage Serbia's participation in the Membership Action Plan, as a partnership mechanism which is being granted, on the basis of a NATO decision, to a PfP participating country which has expressed an intention to join NATO and requested such a status.

In the years that followed joining the PfP program, a number of steps were taken with a view to intensifying the participation of the Republic of Serbia in the PfP, owing to which progress was made in the cooperation, as welcomed by NATO.

The Republic of Serbia and NATO signed the Security Agreement on 1 October 2008 and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia ratified it on 5 July 2011. This Agreement guarantees the minimum necessary standards of security of information exchanged. This agreement enables the exchange of classified information with NATO and creates conditions for a more active role of the Republic of Serbia in the PfP program.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia, in late October 2008, adopted the decision to establish the Mission of the Republic of Serbia to NATO, which was an important step toward enhancing its diplomatic and defence military presence at NATO Headquarters, for the purpose of promoting dialogue and developing PfP cooperation. The Mission of the Republic of Serbia to NATO was officially opened in December 2009.

The first Individual Partnership Program (IPP) between the Republic of Serbia and NATO for 2009-2010 was adopted in 2008. The IPP made more concrete Serbia's participation in the program, in line with the goals and areas of cooperation identified in the Presentation Document. The Second Individual Partnership Program covered the period from 2010-2011, whereas the third one covering the 2011-2012 period is currently under preparation, which was approved by the Government of the Republic of Serbia at the end of December 2010 and which was endorsed by NATO in January 2011.

In February 2011, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the conclusion to initiate the procedure for the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), as a more intensive form of cooperation within the Partnership for Peace program. IPAP consists of the Presentation Document and the original plan of the implementation of the goals defined in the Presentation Document. On 14 July 2011, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Presentation Document which was presented at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 25 November 2011. The activities have been undertaken in line with the commitment of the Republic of Serbia to actively participate in the PfP, but which are not contrary to the policy of the Republic of Serbia's military neutrality.

Joint activities have also been going on between the Republic of Serbia and NATO regarding the Planning and Review Process, a PfP mechanism which is of particular significance for the promotion of cooperation within the PfP cooperation in the military field.

On 19 February 2016, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic signed a confirmation of the country’s cooperation plan with NATO. Serbian lawmakers ratified a diplomatic immunity agreement and logistical support for NATO representatives on February 12. The latest Belgrade's moves became the discussion topic within Serbia and caused a series of protests across the country, as well as calls for a referendum.

The agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the NATO Support and Procurement Organization (NSPO) on cooperation in the field of logistical support, provides the basis for an even closer cooperation between Serbia and NATO. It regulates the relationship between Serbia and NATO, which was established by an Individual Partnership Action Plan, which represents the highest level of cooperation of a country that is not a member of this organization.

In accordance with the agreement, NATO member states have been granted freedom of movement in Serbia, access to all public and private facilities, and usage of Serbia's garrisons and infrastructures. Furthermore, NATO members are exempt from all taxes and any kind of liability, i.e. they have diplomatic immunity.

Dragana Trifkovic, Serbian expert in geopolitics and the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade said in March 2016 that "... this form of cooperation is far worse for Serbia than its NATO membership because Serbia is now de facto at NATO's disposal; on the other hand NATO has absolutely no obligations towards Serbia, unlike the commitments that exist towards the member States. Serbia's membership in NATO is certainly not a topic that is acceptable, but it is important to point out that because of this form of cooperation, as it is now established, we are now in the worst possible position... "

According to Trifkovic, over 80% of Serbian citizens are opposed to any cooperation with NATO, especially in the light of the Alliance's air strikes on civilian and military targets in the country back in 1999.