Beside the fact Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO Alliance on 5 June 2017, researches show there are still people who strongly oppose NATO, i.e. they link it with ‘war’, ‘aggression’ and ‘occupation’. This is why the Montenegrin government continues to inform and educate the public on NATO even after it acceded to it.
This obligation actually stems from the Government’s 2018 Program of Work, which stipulates that the executive power should draft the Communication Strategy ‘Montenegro – NATO member state’ and thus determine goals, measures and activities for promoting policies and activities related to NATO.
Compared to the campaign led before Montenegro acceded NATO, this Communication Strategy deals with policies and NATO activities, as well as with priorities and activities of our country being the member state of the Alliance.
“Montenegro’s admission to the Alliance still causes certain divisions in our country. The situation hasn’t significantly changed even a year after Montenegro joined NATO which points out that citizens’ views can’t be changed so quickly, especially when it comes to important, strategic foreign-political decisions, such as the NATO membership is,” the Strategy suggests.
And here is what the Strategy itself indicates …
-NATO is still seen through the historical prism;
-People are not aware of the benefits NATO brings;
-Some people developed views on NATO based on their political commitment, myths, stereotypes and general impressions, instead relevant facts;
-Many people believe NATO brings tremendous financial costs, i.e. they think 2% of the total GDP is allocated for the needs of NATO;
-There is a lack of information regarding broader aspects of NATO, such as civil components of security and programs for expert groups, academics and businessmen. Part of society thinks politicians gain numerous benefits from NATO membership;
-People know little about the importance of NATO membership in context of wider, regional stability;
-On the other hand, it’s obvious that NATO membership contributes to accelerated EU accession.
Lessons learned
Based on our previous experience, before we acceded NATO, it seems crucial to keep emphasizing benefits we get from NATO membership.
Researches show we should avoid using useless information but rather tackle some concrete, real-life topics.
“Every Montenegro’s activity must be timely presented to the public. Researches suggest that those are the topics citizens want to know more about. Careful attention should be paid to removing misconceptions and myths about NATO,” the Government of Montenegro states.
Time frame
The Strategy encompasses the period from 2018 to 2020 and it includes drafting up of the actions plans, which would closely define the annual action plan. The main goal of the Strategy is to improve perception of Montenegro being the NATO member state, through raising awareness and boosting general understating of all aspects of Montenegro’s NATO membership.
The Strategy itself doesn’t support holding classical promotional campaigns.
