WASHINGTON – Following NATO’s formal invitation to Montenegro to join the alliance, Senator Roger Wicker (MS), Co-Chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued the following statement:

“I am pleased that Montenegro has been invited to become the next member of NATO. The security of Europe and the coalition will benefit greatly from adding this Balkan nation to the alliance, underscoring our common defense priorities. Moving forward, I encourage Montenegro to continue with its own domestic reforms as it prepares not just for the benefits, but also the responsibilities, of NATO membership.”

In the Helsinki Final Act, OSCE participating States acknowledge the right of countries to choose their own alliances. The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, has supported human rights and democratic development in Montenegro since observing the first multi-party elections in the country in 1990.  In addition, the Commission has been deeply involved in policy debates over NATO enlargement since the end of the Cold War. Its most recent hearing on NATO enlargement was held in 2012.