NATO weighs Balkans invites as Greek veto looms

According to NATO officials and diplomats, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia have largely met the technical criteria to join the 26-national transatlantic alliance. But Greece is blocking Macedonia because its name is the same as a northern Greek province. If the 17-year-old problem remains unresolved, the final decision will have to be taken at a NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4. Â

 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts were also to discuss how to handle Ukraine and Georgia, whose leaders want to join the alliance despite staunch Russian opposition. The Macedonia name dispute has become an unlikely obstacle to the alliances expansion.

 

"I would like all three countries to join," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters ahead of the meeting. But he warned: "A lot depends on the question of whether these two states are going to be able to come closer together in the coming weeks." Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said: "There are no problems for the Balkans, apart from the problem with Greece and Macedonia."

 

Macedonia’s name has inflamed emotions in Greece, which refuses to recognise the former Yugoslav republic with the same name as its province. Athens worries that recognising Macedonia’s name could imply a claim on its territory. More than 10,000 people protested in northern Greece on the eve of the meeting, some holding Greek flags and yelling: "Macedonia is Greek". Macedonia meanwhile placed a two-page advert in The Times of London newspaper Thursday, listing 30 reasons why it would make a good NATO member and insisting that it should not have to change its name.

 

Macedonia’s constitutional name is "Republic of Macedonia", and Skopje wants this used in international relations, except with Athens, where a name acceptable to both parties could be used. But in an organisation where every nation holds a veto, Greece will have the final word on tiny Macedonia, which is striving to join less than seven years after NATO helped end an ethnic Albanian uprising there.

 

Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are members of NATO’s Membership Action Plan (MAP), which is designed to help aspiring countries meet NATO standards and prepare for membership. Croatia’s hopes seem almost assured, while Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has impressed recently with his commitment to make electoral, judicial and defence reforms.

 

The case of Ukraine and Georgia might yet prove more difficult to resolve. The two have asked to be invited at the Bucharest summit to join the MAP programme. A senior NATO official said Wednesday that the alliance had still not agreed on whether to invite them, and ministers have been cautious about their chances.

 

"The US in principle has always said that NATO is a performance-based organisation and therefore when countries are not ready for these various stages, that NATO has to have an open door to them," Rice said Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Thursday: "We want to ensure that the hand of friendship is stretched out", while Steinmeier said "I cannot hide my scepticism" about their chances.

 

Moscow has reacted angrily to the NATO ambitions of its ex-Soviet allies, with Russian officials saying their country is being surrounded. NATO has said Russia cannot veto Georgia and Ukraine. Public opinion in Ukraine is largely against NATO rapprochement.