The North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will most probably launch joining invitations to a number of three Balkan countries at the NATO Summit held in Bucharest in April, as part of a new enlargement stage supported by the United States of America, reported Alliance sources quoted in the Tuesday issue of The Washington Times further quoted by Rompres.
Although an official decision will only be reached a few days prior to the NATO Summit, the diplomats invoke a “powerful support” in favour of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia. All these three countries “already significantly contribute to the NATO operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo and made important progress in the field of defence reform, with the full support of the Alliance.'', stated an American official.
NATO has not yet officially approached Moscow on the enlargement issue, but apparently there is consensus on the topic of Croatia being the country that deserves the most to be invited. Albania and Macedonia, on the other hand, smaller and poorer countries, have more efforts yet to make, appreciate the officials.
“Taking into account the fact that Russia is strengthening its position in Serbia and that the Kosovo independence threatens to cause instability in the region, the USA and its European allies are willing to consolidate Balkans’ security', declared Ariel Cohen, researcher with the Heritage Foundation, for Washington Times.
(Source: Rompres)
