NATO
New membership in the alliance has been largely from Central and Eastern Europe, including former members of the Warsaw Pact. Accession to the alliance is governed with individual Membership Action Plans, and requires approval by each current member. NATO currently has two candidate countries that are in the process of joining the alliance: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia.
In NATO official statements, the Republic of Macedonia is always referred to as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", with a footnote stating that "Turkey recognizes the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name". Though Macedonia completed its requirements for membership at the same time as Croatia and Albania, who joined NATO in 2009, its accession was blocked by Greece pending a resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute. In order to support each other in the process, new and potential members in the region formed the Adriatic Charter in 2003. Georgia was also named as an aspiring member, and was promised "future membership" during the 2008 summit in Bucharest, though in 2014, US President Barack Obama said the country was not "currently on a path" to membership.
Multinational Corps Northeast
Due to its geographical location, the only NATO HQ East of the former "Iron Curtain", Multinational Corps North East has a key function in the integration of new NATO member states. This is reflected in the structure of its personnel. Officers and NCO's from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are serving at Multinational Corps North East. Since April 2004, the flags of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been fluttering at the Headquarters. In January 2005, Slovakia joined Multinational Corps Northeast, whereas the Czech Republic - in October 2005. The US flag was hoisted in November 2006 indicating the US membership in the Corps. In July 2008, first Romanian officers arrived to serve at the HQ. In August 2009, Slovenia entered the MNC NE family. In January 2012, Croatia officially became the twelfth nation of the Corps. In July 2013, the flag of Hungary was hoisted in Baltic Barracks. Sweden, a non-NATO member, sent its representative to the Baltic Barracks in autumn 2014. In 2015 Turkish, British, French and Dutch officers started their tours of duty in Szczecin. Canada, Iceland, Belgium, Norway and Greece joined the Corps in 2016.