Seven new countries joined NATO in 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Correspondents’ Club stops in two of these countries to understand what this membership entails.
Published
Update
Reading time: 5 min
While Sweden has just joined NATO, on March 7, 2024, just one year after Finland, today is the commemoration of the largest enlargement to the East of the transatlantic defense alliance. 20 years ago today, on March 29, 2004, seven new countries from Northern and Eastern Europe joined NATO, to the great dismay of Russia: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Estonia is the northernmost country of the three Baltic countries and for its leaders, as for the population elsewhere, there is no doubt: NATO has made Estonia a stronger country. But today, the Russian threat is omnipresent.
For Bulgaria, joining NATO was a decisive step in its strategic reorientation after the fall of communism. It also joined the European Union in 2007. But today, Bulgaria is torn between its Euro-Atlantic commitments and the close ties that unite it with Russia.
Estonia: the slogan in 2004 was: “Never alone again”
Since their independence in the early 1990s, the Baltic States, and in particular Estonia, have advocated joining NATO. This is obviously due to their history, to prevent it from repeating itself. The occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 was followed by 50 years of Soviet occupation, a Pperiod marked by mass deportations. According to the Estonians, it was necessary to join NATO. It was even an existential question, and it was not without difficulties, as Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas recalled a few days ago in Tallinn. “When Estonia expressed its desire to join NATO in the 1990s, many policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic immediately opposed the idea. Why include more members, when NATO’s role and its objectives are unclear, in this new peaceful world order? Why do you need NATO? Because Russia is no longer a threat!”says Kaja Kallas.
Ten years after the entry of these seven new countries into NATO, in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. EIt was precisely from this date that the NATO countries decided to strengthen their presence in the Baltic Sea region. In Estonia, there are around 1,400 men, divided into two groups, one in the North under the aegis of Great Britain with French participation, and one, further south with the United States. Joint exercises take place regularly with the Estonian Defense Forces, and the capital Tallinn is also home to NATO’s center of excellence for cyber defense. The Estonian Defense Minister insists: Estonia is not just a “beneficiary” of the transatlantic organization, but a contributor in its own right. In 20 years, moreover, the country has participated in operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The fear of being next on Vladimir Putin’s list
Obviously, in Estonia, the Russian threat is omnipresent. So, Estonia is preparing, it spends the most on its defense among its allies, 3.2% of its GDP. And the country is currently working on solutions to buy ammunition from Ukraine outside the European Union; it has just launched its own initiative. Because the prevailing feeling here, including among the population, is that if Vladimir Putin’s Russia ends up winning this war in Ukraine, the Baltic States could well be next on the list.
Bulgaria: the country cannot fully participate in NATO missions
Bulgaria supports Ukraine with arms shipments, but it is its own army that is experiencing difficulties. Even though the defense budget reached 2% of GDP for the first time in 2024, there are many shortfalls when it comes to military personnel and arming all branches of the armed forces. Nearly 22% of positions there are vacant, according to a government report on the state of the armies. The Army is the most affected, but Air Force pilots are having difficulty training and fulfilling their flight hour quotas. Bulgaria is also struggling to renew its military equipment, particularly its aviation. Orders for new fighter jets have been underway for a decade.
Furthermore, the country cannot fully participate in NATO missions with its Russian MiGs which are recognized as enemy aircraft by Alliance forces. The country also struggles to ensure its own security in the Black Sea and must rely on aircraft from other member countries to defend its airspace. However, Bulgaria is a major arms producer and produces submachine guns and ammunition which are widely exported.
The pro-Russian far right calls for Bulgaria’s withdrawal from NATO
The decision was taken by NATO member countries to increase the military presence in Romania and Bulgaria, but the exact figures were not announced. Currently, Bulgaria hosts a NATO battalion, therefore a unit of up to 1,200 soldiers. In the future, it must be able to accommodate a brigade, which means a presence of around 5,000 soldiers. However, the far right has made significant progress during a series of legislative elections in recent years. The Renaissance party, which is openly pro-Russian and obtained 15% of the vote in April 2023, is calling outright for Bulgaria’s withdrawal from NATO.