NATO chief welcomes Albania and Croatia for 2009

Published: Thursday 03 April 2008 09:20 UTC
Last updated: Thursday 03 April 2008 09:20 UTC
Bucharest - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has welcomed the announcement that Albania and Croatia have been invited to join the alliance. At the start of the second day of the NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest, he said the alliance's door was open to all Europe's new democracies. On Wednesday, when the three-day summit began, the 26 NATO member states set a date for Albania and Croatia to become members sometime in 2009.

France plans to decide this year on whether to rejoin NATO's military command. Last year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was considering the move. France withdrew from NATO's military command in 1966. At the time, Charles de Gaulle, then president, decided France's possession of nuclear weapons meant the country no longer needed NATO.

President Sarkozy today (Thursday) confirmed France will be deploying extra troops to eastern Afghanistan. The United States is also sending more soldiers to the country. Dutch Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop is also attending the summit in Bucharest. He says the Netherlands has transferred responsibility for a number of operations in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan to Afghan troops


NATO invites Croatia and Albania to join alliance
Reuters

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - NATO confirmed it would on Thursday issue formal invitations to Balkan neighbors Croatia and Albania to join the alliance after postponing an invitation to Macedonia because of Greek opposition.

A NATO official said the invitations had been confirmed and that the step would be formalized later on Thursday when Croatian and Albanian leaders attended a special session with their NATO counterparts.

Albania's prime minister told Reuters on Wednesday NATO would guarantee freedoms for Albania but said a delay in inviting Macedonia could encourage radicals and fuel instability in the Balkans.

Greece has vetoed Macedonia's entry until the former Yugoslav republic resolves a row over the use of the name Macedonia, shared with the most northerly Greek province.

(Reporting by Mark John and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Timothy Heritage)

great news!

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Jesus beat the devil with two sticks. Colossian 2:13,15

Proud American!

Communism/Socialism is similar to legalizing burglary and murder!

Welcome to the club - Albania & Croatia your security is assured.


In the not too distant future Ukraine, Georgia and Macedonia will also become members.

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Russian Imperialism is a greater danger to the World today than AlQueda terrorism

From whom? You should rephrase the sentence: Albania and Croatia, the destruction of your sovereignty is assured!

Does anybody ask them selves what is the real reason, that Macedonia was not called in to NATO?

Well, Greek opposition, I guess. Because of the name. Or something else: if Macedonia joins NATO as a whole, the Albanians won't be able to cut off their land like they did to Serbian land. So, perhaps some interest groups want to block the NATO future of Macedonia.

Yes, Grecia does not like the fact that he new country of Macedonia has the same name as a province in Greece. That's a big TS !!

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"I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land" - Guess Who? You go it !

If the say the russians occupy albania, are NATO countries REALLY going to send troops in to liberate it? I doubt it.

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Blade: "more educated and literate people than Justabubba"

Justabubba: "that would include everyone"

http://politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=27847

Sure they would. Not because they care of Albania, but because they care of themselves and their reputation.

They have to !!

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"I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land" - Guess Who? You go it !