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NATO-ACCESSION

• Defense Secretary Rumsfeld discussed the expected expansion of NATO on Saturday with his counterparts from eight Baltic and Nordic nations and said he would consult with a top U.S. official who had just visited India and Pakistan. In his meeting with the defense ministers, Rumsfeld discussed a range of issues, including the likelihood that the three former Soviet Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be invited to join NATO when allied leaders meet in Prague, the Czech capital, in November. Rumsfeld told reporters that "most of us favor a relatively robust" expansion of NATO. He declined to be more specific but said President Bush favors adding "a good number" of candidate countries, which include Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Macedonia (sic), in addition to the Baltic nations. Rumsfeld spoke at a news conference after meeting with Baltic and Nordic defense ministers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Lithuanian Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius said the Baltic states intend to contribute to the security of the alliance despite their small sizes and limited resources. "Maybe we won't be in on the front line. But we won’t be freeloaders, either," he said at the news conference.(AP 081757 Jun 02 GMT)

• The leader of Bulgaria’s main opposition party declared Saturday that the Socialist Party would work hard to make it possible for the Balkan country to join NATO and the EU. Sergei Stanishev told a party congress that joining the Western organizations remains a party objective. "The integration with the EU continues to be a strategic goal for the Socialist Party," he said. Their support for joining the EU and NATO is important because it means all of the country’s major parties have formed a consensus to take part, boosting their chances. Bulgaria hopes to join NATO at the alliance summit in November along with six other candidates from eastern and central Europe.(AP 081240 Jun 02 GMT)

• Canada’s Defense Minister said Friday his country plans to cut its contribution to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia by about a quarter a smaller reduction than those planned by other allied nations. Foreign Minster John McCallum said Canada would maintain some 1,200 troops in the Balkan nation and insisted Canadian media reports of a Canadian withdrawal had "misinterpreted" the situation. "It’s not true that Canada is pulling troops out of NATO as some headlines would have it," he told reporters at NATO headquarters. McCallum said other NATO nations would be cutting their contingents by a third, as the overall force is reduced to 12,000 troops, from 19,000, by the end of the year. NATO says the reduction reflects an improved Balkan security situation. "It’s a good news story," McCallum said. "Things have stabilized quicker than expected." Under the changes, the peacekeepers will withdraw much of their heavy armor to reflect the military’s view that threats in the region come more from criminal gangs or lightly-armed extremists rather than a return to all-out war. Canadian diplomats said elements of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police may serve in Bosnia under the EU-led international police force that is scheduled to take over from the United Nations at the end of 2002. They said details of the participation were still being finalized. McCallum confirmed that the 800-strong Canadian battle group currently on combat duty in Afghanistan will leave at the end of July and will not be immediately replaced. He said there was a possibility they could return next year.(AP071621 Jun 02 GMT)

EU

• European Parliament President Pat Cox was quoted on Sunday as rejecting a British proposal for the EU’s council of member states to elect a president to serve a five-year term rather than rotating twice a year. "If we get a formula that means more Europe behind closed doors then I would say that the EU parliament would definitely be against that," Cox told Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily in an interview released ahead of publication on Monday. Britain’s Tony Blair, backed by current EU president Spain and by France, wants a senior statesman to be elected by member states as president of the European Council -- the body that groups the 15-nation bloc's heads of government. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar suggested that the president should serve for a longer term of either two-and-a-half or five years. Cox echoed fears of smaller states that such a president would inevitably be drawn from the ranks of bigger EU members states and would also eclipse the president of the European Commission, the EU’s Brussels-based executive. "I ask myself whether the model of Mr Blair and Mr Aznar will not just end up with a directorship of the biggest," he said. Cox said the idea smacked of strengthening the Council at the expense of the European Parliament and the Commission. "We need a balanced system of controls and counter controls. That should not allow any concentration of power in just one direction," he said. (Reuters 1320 090602 Jun 02 GMT)

OTHER NEWS

• Belgian King Albert and German President Johannes Rau attended a ceremony near the former capital Bonn on Friday to mark the withdrawal of army units stationed in Germany since the end of World War Two. Troops from the Belgian First Army Corps arrived in Germany shortly after the end of the war as part of the Allied occupying forces, taking charge of what became the Belgian sector, stretching from Cologne to Bonn and from Aachen to Soest. "Because there was no timeframe on how long the Belgian troops would be stationed in Germany, not only military installations were set up but also social institutions," the Belgian troops stationed in Germany said in a statement. The move of the force back to Belgium is due to be complete by the end of 2005.(Reuters 1923 070602 Jun 02 GMT)

 FINAL ITEM