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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020325/1/2mzh0.html Tuesday March 26, 1:17 AM NATO candidates trumpet hopes, win boost from Bush -Nastase said Romania and Bulgaria are keen to stress the need for NATO's expansion into southeastern Europe, long clouded by wars in the former Yugoslavia. The leaders of 10 ex-communist countries hoping to join NATO trumpeted the advantages of admitting them to the Alliance later this year and received a welcome boost from US President George W. Bush. Bush sent a message to the meeting of NATO candidates in Bucharest saying he was committed to "removing the remaining divisions of Europe" at a landmark Alliance summit in Prague in November. "In Prague, our nations will take a historic step toward removing the remaining divisions of Europe," Bush told the assembled prime ministers. British Prime Minister Tony Blair also sent a message of encouragement. "I urge you to continue with reform. We in Britain will continue to provide practical assistance with your preparations for Prague," he said. The politics of NATO enlargement have changed since September 11. Russian President Vladimir Putin's new entente with the West against terrorism has tempered Moscow's criticism of the Alliance's expansion. "We are determined to take advantage of an unprecedented chance to shape a relationship with Russia that focuses on realistic and concrete cooperation against common threats," Bush said. The leaders of nine formal NATO candidates -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania -- gathered in Bucharest for two days along with their Croatian counterpart. The NATO candidates have been meeting regularly over the last year or two, but their gatherings are becoming more frequent and more urgent as the summit in the Czech capital approaches. "There is no better guarantee against terrorism than NATO's enlargement to new stable and democratic states," said Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, opening the meeting. NATO, which last expanded in 1999 taking in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, will say nothing officially about which countries are likely to get the nod in Prague. But diplomats say two options are gaining ground: either a five-country package of the three Baltic states plus Slo-Slo (Slovakia and Slovenia), or the same package plus Bulgaria and Romania. Earlier Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Washington foresees strong NATO expansion in Prague, and urged candidate states to accelerate their preparations to join. "The US looks forward to the most robust possible accession to the NATO membership at the Prague summit," said Armitage ahead of the meeting in Bucharest, dubbed "Spring of New Allies." The US support comes amid increasingly feverish speculation about which countries will be invited to join in Prague. The three Baltic states plus Slovenia appear the best placed, while question marks remain over Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. Most agree that Albania and Macedonia have little hope of being given the green light in Prague. For Slovakia, uncertainty is being fueled mostly by the threat of a return of populist former prime minister Vladimir Meciar in September elections. Meciar was widely blamed for keeping his country out of the last wave of expansion, and his party is currently leading opinion polls for a comeback. For Bulgaria and Romania, the problems are more general: the two countries, which are at the back of the queue to join the European Union, remain economic weaklings struggling to upgrade their armed forces for NATO entry. Nastase said Romania and Bulgaria are keen to stress the need for NATO's expansion into southeastern Europe, long clouded by wars in the former Yugoslavia. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� http://movies.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
