Albania and Croatia became NATO's 27th and 28th member states April 1 after their ambassadors to the United States filed accession documents with the U.S. government. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer offered Tirana and Zagreb his congratulations from Brussels, adding, "In becoming NATO members, Albania and Croatia share the benefits and responsibilities of collective security." The two countries will join fellow NATO member states at the alliance's April 3-4 summit in Baden Baden, Germany, and Strasbourg, France. (click image to enlarge) With Albania's and Croatia's accessions into the alliance, NATO has entrenched itself firmly on the western Balkan Peninsula, which was site of numerous conflicts in the 1990s as former Yugoslavia disintegrated. With Macedonia's membership a lock as soon as the Greek-Macedonian name dispute is resolved, NATO member states will surround Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo — the three most likely conflict points in Europe today.