Poland ratifies Montenegro's NATO membership
The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, signed the law ratifying the protocol for Montenegro’s membership in the North-Atlantic Alliance, Ukrinform reported, with reference to the Office of the President of Poland.
“The Montenegrin side has repeatedly signaled that it wants Poland, host of the NATO Summit and a country that strongly supports the membership of [Montenegro] in the Alliance, to be one of the first member countries that will ratify the Protocol of Accession,” the report said. The Polish Sejm and Senate approved the accession of Montenegro to NATO on July 6.
In addition to Poland, six NATO countries have already completed, or are in the final stages of, the process of ratifying Montenegro’s accession to NATO. The Montenegrin authorities declared their intention to join NATO in 2010. Since then, the country has made progress in developing their action plan for membership in the Alliance and obtaining candidate status. In January, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg invited Montenegro to the talks on its accession to NATO.
The last time the North Atlantic Alliance expanded was in 2009, with the accession of other Balkan countries – Albania and Croatia.