Bucharest: NATO is set to take in two new members, Croatia and Albania, but alliance leaders Wednesday sidestepped a confrontation
with Russia by leaving Ukraine and Georgia waiting on the doorstep.
In a widely expected move, the leaders of NATO''s 26 current member
countries, meeting in Bucharest, failed to reach an agreement on Macedonia, with neighbouring Greece blocking its bid to join the alliance over an unresolved dispute over Macedonia''s name.
"There is consensus for two of the three countries to be offered invitations to begin accession talks starting tomorrow," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.
"I do not expect
membership action plans (MAPs) for Georgia and Ukraine at Bucharest," he said, in a blow both to the two former Soviet republics and to outgoing US President George W. Bush, who had lobbied hard on their behalf.
At NATO''s last summit in 2006 in Riga, alliance leaders sent Albania, Croatia and Macedonia a "clear signal" that they would be invited into the organization at Bucharest if they met NATO standards.
That dream came true Wednesday night for Albania and Croatia.
But Macedonia''s dream turned into a nightmare as Greece made good on a threat to block the former Yugoslav republic''s application for membership until the long-running name issue could be resolved.
The row, which dates back to 1991, concerns the use of the word Macedonia. Skopje views it as the legitimate name of the country, but Athens sees the use of the name as implying a territorial claim on its own northern province, also called Macedonia.
Talks on the issue are to continue under the auspices of the United Nations, where Macedonia was accepted in 1993 under the interim name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
NATO has made expansion into the Western Balkans one of its top priorities. The alliance conducted its first major military campaign in the region nearly 10 years ago, still has a sizeable peacekeeping operation in Kosovo and consequently views NATO membership as a means of stabilizing that part of South-East Europe.
The question of expansion into the former Soviet Union also raised the diplomatic temperature Wednesday, with NATO members torn between strengthening their relationship with Ukraine and Georgia and damaging an already fractious dialogue with Russia.
Ahead of the summit, NATO''s Eastern European members and US President George W Bush had pushed for the alliance to offer the two countries a road toward membership.
"My country''s position is clear: NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the membership action plan," he said, a day after visiting Kiev.