[A-List] The end of NATO?

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Romania and Bulgaria may be added to Nato list
By Phelim McAleer in Bucharest and Michael Mann in Brussels
Financial Times: March 27 2002

Richard Armitage, the US deputy secretary of state, on Tuesday gave the
clearest signal yet that Romania and Bulgaria may be added to the list
of more advanced east European countries that will be invited to join
Nato this year.

At a conference in Bucharest of 10 heads of state hoping to be included
in the expansion of the defence organisation due in November, Mr
Armitage said: "We want the most robust round of enlargement possible.
We want to bring in as many countries as are qualified from the Baltic,
to the Black Sea, to the Adriatic. No country is excluded."

The remarks underline a shift in the thinking over Nato enlargement that
was started by comments from US President George W. Bush last June in
Warsaw, and has become more marked since last September's attacks on
America.

Bulgaria and Romania are hoping to capitalise upon their part in aiding
the US operations in Afghanistan. Both countries have opened their
airspace to US warplanes and the US is also using a Bulgarian Black Sea
base for refuelling aircraft.

Nato officials in Brussels, however, stressed that nothing was definite
yet about the next enlargement of the alliance, although they agreed
there had been a marked change in mood over the past few months.

"The mood of most nations is to go for a substantial enlargement rather
than a small one, to be maximalist rather than minimalist," said one
Nato official. "But even those who are most likely to join still have
their problems." He pointed to the difficulties Slovakia would face if
Vladimir Meciar, its former autocratic leader, was re-elected as prime
minister later this year.

Nato, concerned about Russia's reaction, had originally considered
admitting only Slovenia and Slovakia, which would join Poland, the Czech
Republic and Hungary - members since 1999.

However, Washington has shifted ground, partly in response to pressure
from lobbies supporting the inclusion of the three Baltic states,
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but also influenced by the September 11
attacks on the US.

Given the pace of reforms among the applicant countries, diplomats say
most of the 19 Nato countries now want to include the Baltic states as
well as Slovenia and Slovakia at Nato's summit in Prague in November.
But officials said there were doubts among some members about whether
Bulgaria and Romania were ready for membership.

"Some people have qualms of a practical nature about countries like
Bulgaria and Romania, even if they are keen politically," said one Nato
diplomat.

Mr Armitage said on Tuesday that America's mind was open but that it was
up to each individual country to earn membership and that the reform of
applicant militaries must continue.

Both Romania and Bulgaria have made progress downsizing their armies and
modernising military structures.

However, Michael Guest, the American ambassador in Bucharest, recently
warned Romania that the country's endemic corruption was the biggest
barrier to it being granted membership.

Full article at:
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3MMJG2AZC&live=true&tagid=ZZZAFZAVA0C&subheading=europe

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx