Albanian Times: "Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hopeful to join NATO"

BRUSSELS, - Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are equally hopeful in getting invitations to join NATO at the alliance's next summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO spokesman said on Monday.

"They are all hopeful, they are all equally hopeful (to get invited)," James Appathurai told a group of journalists.

But he added that there is no guarantee that any of them would receive invitation, nor guarantee that all of them would.

"These countries are at various levels of meeting the NATO standards -- political, economic, democratic, military standards," he said.

Croatia, he said, has clearly made enormous progress and there are no substantial challenges left in its bid.

All three countries are working hard to meet NATO's standards. But more work needs to be done, said the spokesman.

Albania, Croatia and Macedonia have joined NATO's membership action plan, the most advanced stage toward NATO membership before formal invitations to join.
All three countries are eager to get the invitation at the April 2008 NATO summit so that they can formally join the alliance at the following summit in 2009, when NATO celebrates its 60th anniversary.

Albania, Croatia and Macedonia signed the Adriatic Charter with the United States in 2003, in a bid to facilitate their entry into the alliance. U.S. President George W. Bush met the prime ministers of the three countries in Tirana last month to express support for the three countries' attempts to join NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said later in the month that the alliance ultimately wants all Balkan states to join.

Full integration into the "Euro-Atlantic structure" is the only viable path for the countries in the region to take, he told the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council security forum.

But he warned that there would be no packaging so that each country will have to knock hard at NATO's door. "Each country will be judged by its own merits. There will be no any package."

While Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are walking their last mile toward NATO, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia have just joined the Partnership for Peace program, the initial stage on their way toward NATO membership.

(Xinhua)