Defence Ministry: NATO Forms Backbone of Slovakia's Security (2)

Bratislava, March 26 (TASR) - NATO membership forms a backbone of Slovakia's security and reflects also Slovakia's values and its civilisational and geopolitical anchoring in the West while enabling the country's existence as a modern, secure and prosperous country, the Defence Ministry told TASR on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Slovakia's joining of the Alliance on Tuesday. "Together with the Slovak Armed Forces, NATO is the main guarantor of Slovakia's security. The power and indispensability of the trans-Atlantic partnership is evident also from the fact that since NATO's founding, none of its member states has ever faced an open military aggression," added the ministry press department. In the ministry's view, current challenges to NATO stem particularly from a dynamically changing security situation, to which the Alliance must adapt. "We in the ministry continue to carry out tasks linked with the bolstering of security of both Slovakia and NATO's eastern flank as well as shortcomings regarding modernisation that have gone unaddressed for a long time," stated the ministry, adding that it must also address the absence of national air-defence capabilities gifted to Ukraine. Slovakia's stance on any future enlargement of NATO will be based on several factors. "From our own experience, it's necessary to underline that accession to NATO is a fairly challenging process and a country aspiring to be inducted must undergo a large number of reforms and meet a whole slew of criteria without exception," pointed out the ministry. It added that even that even meeting all those prerequisites doesn't mean an automatic green light for accession, as any country's joining of NATO must receive a unanimous thumbs-up from all members. mf/mcs