Pendarovski: Macedonia has NATO alternatives

“The question is not whether Macedonia has alternatives to the NATO membership, but do those alternative have enough quality,” said NATO National Coordinator Stevo Pendarovski on Tuesday.

Pendarovski took part at roundtable “Alternatives to and for NATO: Macedonia’s Integration, Political Reality, Future Solutions and Opportunities”, held within the Diplomatic Forum at the Skopje-based Faculty of Security.

According to him, the first alternative is for Macedonia to declare military-political neutrality, which is “utopia in the region we live in” and something that has no practical effect.

“The second alternative is to join the Euro-Asian associations. Analyses have shown the accession will not bring added value to Macedonia. There are no membership criteria in those alliances and no evaluation of the degree of policy harmonization,” said Pendarovski.

He stressed that Macedonia’s NATO accession benefits are enormous – joint protection from cyber crime, joint defense from the detrimental effect of the so-called fake news.

“As full-fledged NATO member we would exchange information with all powerful member-states over terrorism threats inspired by religion,” added Pendarovski.

Regarding the name issue, he said if the issue is not solved now, the alternative is to resume with the talks until a dignified solution is reached.

“The worst thing would be to retreat and close ourselves. It is not the end of the world if we do not get an invitation. The important thing is to resume with the negotiating process,” stressed Pendarovski.

He said EU and NATO are schools for democracy in post-communist states, adding these processes are especially important for Macedonia because there had been no democratic tradition in the country before 1991.

“The key substance of democracy is the culture of compromise, which is absent in our democracy. There is no consensus in strategic areas. We need to protect Macedonia with wisdom and responsibility, not by showing muscle at home and abroad,” emphasized Pendarovski.