Enlargement of NATO
As of 2018, NATO officially recognizes four aspiring members: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia and Ukraine. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Bosnia and Herzegovina has expressed willingness to join NATO, however, it faces consistent political pressure from Republika Srpska, the other political entity in the country, alongside its partners in Moscow. Macedonia has been prevented from joining the alliance by Greece, one effect of the Macedonian naming dispute. Future expansion is currently a topic of debate in several countries outside the alliance, and countries like Sweden, Finland, and Serbia have open political debate on the topic of membership, while in countries like Ukraine, support and opposition to membership is tied to ethnic and nationalist ideologies. The incorporation of countries formerly part of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union has been a cause of increased tension between NATO countries and Russia.
Zoran Dragišić
In 2007, Dragišić said that Serbia would be ready to join NATO within three years. By 2009, however, he indicated that NATO's decision to accept Albania as a member introduced the prospect of Serbia's bid for membership being vetoed. In his view, this changed situation was detrimental to Serbia's territorial integrity; he remarked that if Serbia had joined the Partnership for Peace program earlier and become a NATO member prior to Albania, then Kosovo "would be part of Serbia and [its] independence would not be an issue." By 2016, he accepted that NATO membership was no longer a realistic option, saying, "Serbia [has] clearly stated that it will not join NATO. And nobody has asked us to do it so far. In my opinion, we missed our chance in 2009, when Croatia and Albania joined the alliance."