Vesko Garcevic | Photo: The Government of Montenegro.

The North Atlantic Council and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit Montenegro on Wednesday to assess whether the country has done enough to deserve receiving a membership invitation.

The NAC, representing the NATO member states, is the alliance’s top political body and its visit to Podgorica is considered the most important such visit since 2006, when Montenegro joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

During the two-day visit to Podgorica, NATO officials will meet decision-makers and the opposition ahead of a December ministerial meeting that will decide on Montenegro’s bid.

Montenegro’s NATO coordinator, Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, told BIRN that the NAC visit would send a strong political message and was well timed, weeks before the final decision.

He explained that the plan for NATO ambassadors and Stoltenberg is verify whether the country has progressed, and get more information on the state of legal and security reforms required as a condition for membership

“This could be one of the most important visits since we gained independence in 2006,” Garcevic said.

The government is optimistic that the NAC will positively assess the situation and Garcevic said there was a “great chance” of Montenegro receiving an invitation. “We are entering a crucial three or four weeks when the outcome could be known,” he added.

Montenegro has a population of only about 620,000 people and opinions about NATO remain hotly divided.

Many in the large Serbian community are still angry at NATO’s bombing campaign in Serbia in the 1990s, aimed at forcing Serbia to withdraw from Kosovo.

Garcevic admitted the majority of the public still did not support membership. However, support for joining the alliance has increased by about 7 percent in recent months to 43 per cent. The same polls, he added, suggested a fall in the number of NATO opponents to 38 per cent, down from 46 per cent early in 2015.

Gracevic said he expected the anti-NATO campaign to intensify in the weeks to come. Several anti-NATO organizations have announced a rally during the NAC-Stoltenberg visit.

“This year we saw a powerful attempt by NATO’s opponents to do everything in their power to slow down or disable the process. But of course it is their legitimate and democratic right to disagree with the government’s policies,” Garcevic said.

As the promise of NATO membership gets closer, Montenegro has distanced itself from its historic ally, Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly said that Podgorica’s NATO ambitions run counter to hundreds of years of “fraternal relations” between the two Slavic, Orthodox Christian nations.

Garcevic declined to comment on claims that Russia openly opposed Montenegro’s NATO bid but criticized the coverage of Russian media outlets for “contradictory reporting” on the situation in Montenegro.

“We will continue to do what we think is best for Montenegro and there is no reason to consider what others think about it,” he concluded.