NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Sarajevo on Sunday, launching a tour across four countries in the Western Balkans, three of which were considered a potential security threat, according to Euractiv.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been participating in the NATO Membership Action Plan since 2010, but has yet to take concrete steps toward membership due to the slow pace of reforms and political blockade by Bosnian Serb leaders. They oppose NATO membership and sanctions against Russia.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022, the security environment in Europe has changed, with NATO increasing its support for Bosnia. In 2023, the organisation approved a new Defence Capacity Building package for the country.
Stoltenberg is set to meet with the Bosniak, Croat, and Serb members of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s collective presidency on Sunday. Afterwards, he will head to Kosovo, a former province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008 and is still patrolled by NATO-led peacekeeping troops, KFOR, on Monday.
The visit followed a breakdown in political talks and rising tensions between Serbia and Kosovo in recent months, which culminated in an attack by armed militants on a Kosovo police patrol in September that the EU called a “terrorist attack.”
On Tuesday, Stoltenberg will travel to Serbia, which NATO bombed in 1999 to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo. While Belgrade has since aimed for EU membership, it has stated that joining the military alliance is not its strategic goal. It has also refused to endorse sanctions against Moscow.
The Secretary-General will then conclude his trip in North Macedonia, which has joined NATO in 2022. According to N1, Stoltenberg is expected to meet with regional leaders on Wednesday, including from NATO members Albania and Montenegro, as well as NATO and EU members Croatia and Slovenia.
