Montenegro MPs Back Closer Ties with NATO

The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic mustered enough votes in parliament to push through a bill that will closen ties to NATO.

With the backing of the ruling coalition and part of the opposition, a majority of MPs in Montenegro adopted a law on the status of NATO forces on Wednesday.

«Montenegro has ratified an agreement with NATO that will significantly enhance cooperation with the Western Alliance. The protocol was supported by 51 deputies and 18 were against, so it's a done deal,» the speaker of parliament, Ranko Krivokapic, said after the vote on Wednesday.

The new law reads that NATO will have its own small headquarters in Montenegro and that the country will now start to host larger military exercises.

The opposition Socialist National Party and part of the Democratic Front remained alone in their opposition to a more intensive NATO presence in the country.

A highly sensitive issue among many Montenegrins - NATO bombed the country back in the Kosovo conflict of 1999 – the agreement concerns the physical presence of NATO soldiers on national soil, military exercises and various benefits that NATO soldiers will enjoy.

The biggest sticking point was that the agreement relieves NATO troops of any criminal liability in Montenegro. They may be held liable for crimes committed in the country only in the courts of their own countries.

Podgorica has been pushing to join the Western alliance almost since it became independent of a loose state union with Serbia in 2006. It received a NATO Membership Action Plan in 2009, which is regarded as a final step before joining the alliance.

In a setback in June, however, ministers of NATO countries decided not to offer the country membership of the...