He said that the process of ratification will go in an expected pace.
“The first will be countries in the region, such as Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Albania. Then we expect Bulgaria, Romania. Baltic countries”, Garčević said.
According to him, in a few months we will have a large number of countries that have ratified the Protocol, which will have a positive influence on the process.
“There are countries where their internal procedures are not conductive to ratification. One of such countries is Belgium”, Garčević said.
He said that estimates are from 9 to 10 months, sometimes even a year and a half.
“The process is irreversible and it has never happened that the Protocol has been signed without the country becoming the member. USA will be the last to ratify, because it is a keeper of Washington Agreement. Montenegro’s Parliament is the last to ratify, and then USA. The process ends there and Montenegro becomes a full fledged member”, Garčević said.
