- Title: Montenegro parliament ratifies NATO membership accord
- Date: 28th April 2017
- Summary: CETINJE, MONTENEGRO (APRIL 28, 2017) (REUTERS) MONTENEGRIN PARLIAMENT SESSION IN PROGRESS LEADER OF RULING DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SOCIALISTS, MILO DJUKANOVIC AT PARLIAMENT SESSION DJUKANOVIC AND MONTENEGRO'S PRESIDENT FILIP VUJANOVIC (SOUNDBITE) (Montenegrin) MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER, DUSKO MARKOVIC, SAYING: "Euro Atlantic and European integration processes are the key for the permanent transformation of our region from the Balkan powder keg into a European oasis of peace, stability and economic prosperity." PARLIAMENT SPEAKER IVAN BRAJOVIC DECLARING THE ACCESSION TREATY RATIFIED WITH DELEGATES RISING AND APPLAUDING LEGISLATORS STANDING AND APPLAUDING MILO DJUKANOVIC AND PMS CONGRATULATING EACH OTHER FILIP VUJANOVIC AND PMS CONGRATULATING MILO DJUKANOVIC LEAVING BUILDING, STOPPING FOR STATEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Montenegrin) PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SOCIALISTS AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF MONTENEGRO, MILO DJUKANOVIC, SAYING: "After many years of suffering and wandering through its history, Montenegro has found its natural place of belonging. Historically, geographically and culturally it belongs in the company of the most developed European and world countries." PROTESTERS AGAINST NATO MEMBERSHIP GATHERED IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING BUILDING WHERE PARLIAMENT SESSION IS HELD PROTESTERS CHANTING "TRAITORS" PROTESTERS CHANTING PROTESTERS SETTING NATO FLAG ON FIRE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS AND NATO FLAG ON FIRE OPPOSITION DEMOCRATIC FRONT LEADER ANDRIJA MANDIC AND SUPPORTERS SCUFFLING WITH SECURITY
- Embargoed: 12th May 2017 17:41
- Keywords: Montenegro Nato vote
- Location: CETINJE, MONTENEGRO
- City: CETINJE, MONTENEGRO
- Country: Montenegro
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0016EBCMKN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Montenegro's parliament on Friday (April 28) ratified the country's membership agreement with NATO, taking the tiny former Yugoslav republic a step closer to becoming the 29th member of the Atlantic alliance.
Forty-six of 81 deputies voted in favour of the agreement. Most of the opposition, led by the pro-Russia Democratic Front, boycotted the vote and protested outside.
Both the parliament session and the protest, drawing several hundred anti-NATO opposition supporters, were held in the historical town of Cetinje, the royal seat of the Montenegrin medieval state.
The protesters torched a NATO flag and demanded a referendum on NATO membership.
Montenegrins remain deeply divided over NATO, with many angry over the alliance's 1999 bombing of Serbia over the heavy-handed crackdown on ethnic Albanians rebelling in Serbia's then province of Kosovo.
NATO also bombed Montenegro, then part of a rump Yugoslavia with Serbia, arguing its targets were part of the war machine.
All but two of NATO member-states have ratified the accord, which is strongly opposed by Russia, a country with strong historic and cultural ties to Montenegro. Podgorica hopes to formally join NATO at a summit next month.
Montenegro's accession will mark the first expansion of NATO ranks into ex-Communist eastern Europe since its neighbours Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, and the first since relations between Russia and the West hit a post-Cold War low with the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
With a population of 650,000 and a military of only 2,000, Montenegro is strategically positioned on the eastern Adriatic between NATO members Croatia and Albania.
Russia criticized the expansion, highlighting Montenegro's negligible military potential. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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