NATO Official: NATO Will Not Allow Security in Western Balkans to Be Threatened

NATO

The security of the Western Balkans is key to the stability of NATO and the alliance will not allow it to be threatened, an unnamed official of the treaty organization said in Brussels on April 2.

In a statement delivered to journalists in Brussels ahead of a meeting of NATO member countries' foreign ministers, this official called the Western Balkans a region of strategic importance and said NATO leaders had stressed this fact at a summit in Washington in July 2024.

The NATO official pointed out that this week's meeting of NATO foreign ministers would take place weeks after an important visit by NATO general secretary Mark Rutte to the Western Balkans.

Rutte visited Sarajevo on March 10, saying during his visit that NATO would not permit a security vacuum to form or peace to be threatened in that country. On March 11, he visited Pristina, where he said NATO was committed to security across Kosovo and to regional stability, as demonstrated by his stay. Both visits represented another tangible demonstration that the Western Balkan region remains high on NATO's agenda, the unnamed NATO official said.