Croatia–NATO relations
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The accession of Croatia to NATO took place in 2009. The country entered into Partnership for Peace in 2000, which began the process of accession into the alliance. It received an invitation to join at the
2008 Bucharest summit The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 20th NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.
and became a full member on April 1, 2009.


History

Croatia's first relations with NATO were established in 1953. That year
Yugoslavia entered into the Balkan Pact, a loose military alliance with Greece and Turkey, then both recent NATO members. Croatia had considered holding a referendum on NATO membership. On March 23, 2007, the Croatian president Stjepan Mesić, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and President of parliament Vladimir Šeks declared that the Croatian constitution does not require a referendum on this issue. In 2006 the Croatian government was planning to start a media campaign to promote the benefits of membership. In February 2008 a project named ''Bolje pakt nego rat'' was formed by Transparency International Croatia and iDEMO, and financed by the United States embassy in Croatia, in order to promote the NATO membership through public discussions about its benefits. A May 2007 poll commissioned by the government showed that NATO membership was backed by 52% of the population, and 25% was against. On January 4, 2008, Croatian Prime minister Ivo Sanader reached a coalition agreement with partners from HSS and HSLS to form a new government. According to a provision of the said agreement Croatia's entry into NATO would not be decided on a referendum. Less than 20 days before entering NATO, Prime Minister Sanader stated: "I will forget that some people had requested a referendum. Had we started that adventure, we wouldn't have accomplished this." Croatia has been a member of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan since December 12, 2002. In 2003 Croatia joined the
Adriatic Charter The Adriatic Charter is an association formed by Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and the United States for the purpose of aiding their attempts to join NATO. The Charter was signed on 2 May 2003 in Tirana under the aegis of the United States. Th ...
along with other NATO aspirants. In November, 2006 the ''State Committee for the Membership of Croatia in NATO'' was established, with Croatian president Stjepan Mesić serving as committee president, and speaker Vladimir Šeks and prime minister Ivo Sanader serving as its vice-presidents. In June, 2007 the Croatian Parliament and the NATO parliamentary Assembly held a three-day conference in Dubrovnik entitled "Southeast Europe: Unfinished business", to discuss security and political issues in the region. The Noble Midas 07 NATO exercise held in Croatia in October, 2007 was the first time in the alliance's history that it held a military exercise in a non-member country. Croatia hosted an unofficial meeting of defense ministers on NATO's role in southeastern Europe in March, 2009. On January 1, 2008 Croatia abandoned military conscription and finished its transition to a fully professional army. The
Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia. The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...
expects that it will join the NATO-led
Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO-led international NATO peacekeeping, peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo Security Force, Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2 ...
(KFOR) in 2009. With Croatia's accession to the alliance, it has become more likely that the country will leave the Non-Aligned Movement. The Croatian minister of foreign affairs Gordan Jandroković was invited to the movement's 15th Conference, held in Iran in July, 2008. Instead of a high-level delegate, the Croatian ambassador to Iran, Esad Prohić, served as Croatian representative.Vladi ne trebaju nesvrstani
Slobodna Dalmacija


Negotiation progress


See also

*
Foreign relations of Croatia The Republic of Croatia is a sovereign country at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean that declared its independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. Croatia is a member of the European Union (EU), United N ...
*
2013 enlargement of the European Union The most recent enlargement of the European Union saw Croatia become the European Union's 28th member state on 1 July 2013. The country applied for EU membership in 2003, and the Europ ...
* Accession of Albania to NATO


References


External links


Croatian mission to NATO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croatia-NATO relations NATO relations Foreign relations of Croatia Croatia and NATO Modern history of Croatia