Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

9 May 2003

NATO

• The United States on Thursday formally backed NATO’s expansion, with the Senate voting unanimously to add seven Eastern European nations to the military alliance. The U.S. Senate voted 96-0 to add Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania to NATO. Foreign ministers of the countries watched the Senate vote and met later with President Bush who said the seven nations “have proven themselves to be allies by their actions and now it is time to make them allies by treaty.” The U.S. House of Representatives does not have to vote on the protocol. Canada and Norway are the only other countries to ratify the expansion, which must be approved by all 19 member nations. Bush praised the seven nations for backing the U.S.-led war. He urged other NATO members to ratify the agreement quickly.(Reuters 2055 080503 GMT)

BALKANS

• NATO and the EU on Thursday blasted opposition politicians in Macedonia (sic) who have publicly challenged the agreement that hauled the Balkan country back from the brink of civil war in 2001. “The risks remain that there are certain elements within the country...who wish to continue to undermine that peace process and therefore we must all remain vigilant,” NATO Secretary-General Robertson told a news conference. NATO and EU ambassadors discussed the issue with the prime minister of the former Yugoslav republic, Branko Crvenkovski, who, diplomats said, insisted he was determined to implement in full the Ohrid pact.(Reuters 1700 080503 GMT)

EU

• Lithuania is the first of the former Soviet Baltic republics to decide whether to join the EU as polls open this weekend for a two-day referendum. A commanding 65 percent of voters favor membership, opinion polls have shown, but officials who fear turnout would fall below the minimum 50 percent have stepped up campaigning for Lithuanians to cast ballots. President Rolandas Paksas, who favors joining the EU and NATO, has held dozens of rallies to urge residents to vote yes. EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen was among scores of EU officials and leaders of member statesto visit Lithuania this week. “My task here is not to agitate people, but simply to answer their questions about the EU,” Verheugen said during a three-day tour. “A yes vote would mean that for at least 30 years to come everything will be OK in Lithuania,” Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said this week.(AP 081541 May 03 GMT)
  
  
• Poland’s involvement in the Iraq war and postwar reconstruction are unlikely to strain its relations with the EU, the Greek prime minister said Thursday. “Poland was one of the allies as well as other European countries such as Great Britain and Denmark, who were also present in Iraq,” Costas Simitis, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said after talks with his Polish counterpart Leszek Miller. “Those who took part in the war have to take care about peace. They have to prepare conditions for reconstruction.” Simitis told reporters that he and Miller agreed that the United Nations should have “an important role” in Iraq, but he did not elaborate.(AP 081410 May 03 GMT)
  
  
• Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov sought assurances from the European Union Thursday that his country would not suffer delays in its bid to join the bloc by 2007 because of its closer ties to the United States. Bulgaria, which backed the United States in its war in Iraq, has come under fire in several EU capitals for favoring closer ties to Washington rather than with the rest of Europe. Parvanov, who met with European Commission President Romano Prodi said he “expressed concerns" over critical comments made by several EU leaders doubting Bulgaria's readiness to join. "The crisis around Iraq and the Bulgarian position may affect our position of joining the EU," Parvanov said. He later added at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson that Bulgaria would continue to support the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. "Bulgaria is a member of the coalition, it has a moral and political commitment to be present there with military forces and other means," he said at NATO headquarters. Bulgaria said it could send 450 soldiers by mid-June to a stability force in Iraq.(AP 081707 May 03 GMT)