Albania, Croatia, Macedonia discuss NATO bids with US officials

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 – Albanian, Croatian and Macedonian defense ministers were in a visit to Washington trying to seek help from the United States for their bids to join NATO possibly at the next Bucharest summit in early April. Albania’s Fatmir Mediu, Branko Vukelic of Croatia and Lazar Elenovski of Macedonia were in Washington to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to introduce their countries’ efforts to meet requirements for change ahead of the alliance’s April summit in Bucharest, where the members will consider the three bids.
The United States has been supportive of membership for the three countries (also part of the Adriatic 3 Charter), but has been encouraging them to step up changes in their practices. It is unclear whether all three countries have the necessary unanimous support of the alliance’s 26 members. On Tuesday in a joint event at the Atlantic Council, a Washington group that promotes close U.S.-European ties, the three ministers argued that membership for all three would promote stability by anchoring the three Balkan countries in an important Western institution. They also said that the necessary changes have been made. “I believe that our time has come,” Mediu said.