*** “The pilot dropped the bomb in good faith, as you would expect of a trained pilot from a democratic NATO country to do”. Jamie Shea, about the NATO bombing against a Kosovo refugees’ convoy, April 15. “We will see how they will feel after a few more weeks and months of continuously pounding them [...]

*** Since the beginning of former Yugoslavia’s disintegration and the conflict that followed, NATO has clearly treated the Serbs as the enemy side – whether it was about the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia or Kosovo and Metohija. NATO bombed the Serbs in the Serbian Republic (Republika Srpska in 1994/1995), which has weakened its [...]

NATO has been reiterating its openess towards membership of Serbia for years now. Serbia entered a cooperation programme with the NATO Partnership for Peace in 2006, but also adopted a Declaration on military neutrality in 2007. The Serbian political scene is clearly divided, the ruling parties as well, while the citizens of Serbia are to a great extent against membership: only up to a quarter of the population supports entry into NATO. It is thus important to distinguish between “cooperation” with NATO (which alrealy exists within the Partnership for Peace and which no one brings to doubt) and “membership” into NATO. It is also key to distinguish between “European” integrations (the road towards EU membership) and “Euro-Atlantic integration” (the road towards membership into NATO).

*** Despite an identity crisis and a visible drop in influence, NATO – a 28-member state military alliance dominated by the USA – is the most powerful military structure in today’s world and remains in operation despite numerous controversies: it has become obsolete after the Cold War, it has waged an illegal aggression against Yugoslavia [...]

It is necessary to start a campaign for the referendum right now due to the specific nature of the integration process into NATO, a long process that allows a “slip in”, or “crawl in” accession based only on government decisions without any consultation or approval of the Assembly and the citizens. Also, the current government [...]

The Assenbly of the Republic of Serbia on December 26, 2007 proclaimed MILITARY NEUTRALITY in relation to existing military alliances. This decision, according to the text of the declaration, is valid until a REFERENDUM which would bring a definitive decision on the issue. By doing so, Serbia joined a European family of nations – members of the EU or not – which have proclaimed military neutrality. Among the neutral countries are the most western European countries, such as Ireland, the most northern European countries such as Sweden, the most southern European such as Malta, the most eastern Europeab such as Moldova and the most central European such as Austria. The experiences of these countries, the strengthening of the EU defense policy, the Russian proposal on the Agreement on European security, as well as the appearance of new alliances such as the Organization for Collective Security, are proofs of existence of alternatives to NATO.

*** 1) NATO bombing of 1999: By entering into NATO Serbia would indirectly legitimize the military intervention against FR Yugoslavia in 1999 and would also legitimize all possible decisions on the final status of Kosovo that contradict Serbia’s best interest. By joining NATO, Serbia would herself justify the aggression, recognize the secession of Kosovo and [...]

*** 1) Military neutrality was rushed through Parliament without prior debate and was part of a political trade-off since it was the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) that motioned for it. Therefore, military neutrality is not a permanent category. The Declaration of the Serbian Assembly should be ignored or simply cancelled by the new majority [...]