euro|topics - NATO wants to stretch its borders towards the east

Main focus of Friday, March 7, 2008

NATO wants to stretch its borders towards the east

The foreign ministers from the 26 member countries of the North Atantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) gathered in Brussels on Thursday, March 6th, to study the future enlargement of the military alliance. While Croatia and Albania will probably be integrated during the Bucharest summit in April, Macedonia, Georgia and Ukraine are seeing their chances shrink.

Ta Nea - Greece

"The famous Greek veto against Skopje's entrance into NATO has finally been used, at least in rehearsal," notes Irini Karanasopoulou. Greece is opposed to its neighbour joining NATO under the name of Macedonia. "The neighbouring country has turned down the propositions of the UN mediator, refusing to add a suffix or prefix to the name Macedonia in order to specify its geographic position. On April 2nd, at the Bucharest summit, Greece will no doubt be using its final veto. This will be the first veto in the history of the Alliance, which already sees it as a negative precedent. The Skopje authorities thought that, under pressure from America, the Greek government wouldn't go through with it, but this veto will not prevent conflict or Skopje's EU accession under the name of Macedonia. Another battle lies ahead for Greece, which will now have to oppose the Union's enlargement for the sake of a name." (07/03/2008)

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland

Poland has failed in its effort to obtain candidate status for Ukraine and Georgia at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. Jacek Pawlicki complains that the military alliance lacks a future-oriented strategy. "The speedy accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO is in Poland's and its allies' best interests, because it would mean more than just anchoring these countries in the Western world. It would shift the West's borders much further eastwards. ... Ukraine and Georgia now have 12 months to prove to sceptics in Berlin and Paris that giving these countries the prospect of NATO membership is a good investment in the West's security. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation celebrates its 60th anniversary in April 2009. This would provide an excellent opportunity to reward Poland's efforts by letting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO's waiting room." (07/03/2008)

Die Presse - Austria

"For years Austria has allowed itself the luxury of not joining the Western alliance," writes Burkhard Bischof, pointing out that other countries' "sensitiveness regarding security policy" doesn't permit them this luxury. Ukraine and Georgia are clamouring to join "because they regard their large neighbour Russia as too unpredictable. Meanwhile their big neighbour rages and warns them not to dare creep under NATO's cloak of protection - which only makes the Ukrainians and Georgians all the more nervous and eager to obtain membership. The main problem remains that the Russian leadership continues to regard NATO as it did in Soviet times, as an enemy alliance - although they have been sitting together on a joint council for ten years now. Until this outdated view changes, any expansion of NATO into the post-Soviet region is a cramp. And this picture of NATO as a bogeyman is hardly likely to change while countries like Germany support the Russian arguments." (07/03/2008)

El País - Spain

The daily considers that Russia is weighing upon westerners' decision regarding the integration of new NATO countries. "The EU and the United States are waiting to see if the young Medvedev [new Russian President], who owes his entire career to Vladimir Putin, his future prime minister, is simply an illustrious employee of the former KGB official, or if, on the contrary, he is capable of introducing his own reform programme. The first signs are not encouraging. ... Medvedev's victory coincides with another interruption of gas supplies to Ukraine, with consequences for all of Europe. An EU that would thus benefit from getting along with Medvedev and which, in Brussels on March 6th, made a conciliating gesture towards Moscow by cooling down Georgia and Ukraine's wishes to join NATO." (07/03/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, March 7, 2008

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