NATO will never agree to the formation of “zones of interest” and trade-offs in regard to expansion, as one of its key principles is its open door policy for countries aspiring to join the alliance, former NATO Deputy Secretary General, Rose Gottemoeller, told N1.

She said that NATO’s open doors policy is enshrined in the Washington Treaty and that “the founding legal documents of the NATO Alliance says that NATO should maintain the ability to welcome new entrants from Europe who can provide gains for European security and who also want to join NATO.”

Gottemoeller explained that it is very important that countries want to join NATO, but that there also must be consensus among all NATO members on which state should be admitted.

She noted that countries from the Balkans, North Macedonia and Montenegro, recently became members of the alliance.

Gottemoeller stressed that NATO will never agree to the formation of “zones of interest”, as this is also one of its key principles.

She called the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina “fragile and complicated.”

“It is a difficult and delicate working environment and I really am concerned that there could be efforts to undo the basic arrangements that were put together under the Dayton Accords,” she said, expressing hope that the country can “find a balance among the competing forces and be able to move forward.”

She noted that Bosnia is on the list of NATO aspirants, adding,” I would very much like to see take its place among other countries in the Balkans.”

She also commented on the sanctions the United States introduced against tripartite BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik.

She argued that sanctions are not the only factor in moving forward policy, but that she hopes that they send an important signal of US support for Bosnia and that they represent some leverage to move things forward.

“But they’re an imperfect tool, we see this around the world. Sanctions by themselves do not work, there has to be a number of other efforts, including the efforts of your leaders across the political divides to work together and to find common ground,” she said.

The full interview in English can be viewed in the link above.