Nato member states signed the accession protocols for Albania and Croatia on July 9 2008, with the two Balkan states expected to become full members of the military bloc by spring 2009.

The signing ceremony took place at Nato's headquarters in Brussels and was attended by Albanian foreign minister Lulzim Basha and Croatian foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic, the Nato press service said in a statement.

“This is a historical achievement for these two countries and for the entire Atlantic community of nations. Both our new allies come from a region that, not long ago saw the first operational deployment of the alliance and a region that has witnessed the first major conflict on European soil since the end of World War 2,” Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

For the accession procedure to be completed, the parliaments of the alliance's member states have to ratify the documents. Then the Albanian and Croatian parliaments will have to do the same.

The process usually lasts no longer than a year and a half, but reports say Nato officials would like to see it all finalised before the next summit in Strasbourg/Kehl, which is to be held in April 2009 and will mark the alliance's 60th anniversary.

Macedonia could also have been among the two Balkan states today, had it not been for its name dispute with Greece. Back in April, Greece blocked Nato issuing an invitation to its neighbour as the two had not managed to reach a solution to their row.

Athens claims that Skopje does not have the right to call itself Macedonia as the name coincides with Greece's northern province. The dispute has been on ever since Macedonia broke away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and, in spite of United Nations brokerage efforts, is still unsettled.

“I am slightly sad why the third minister [Macedonia's foreign minister] is not next to me. But, people in Skopje should also think what this means. Good neighbourly relations are important. There is new government in Skopje and let us hope that we will see flexibility,” Scheffer said, as quoted by website Balkan Insight.