NATO expansion discussed at U.S. Congress

TIRANA, March 14 – The U.S. Congress has been holding hearings regarding the future of NATO in advance of next month’s NATO summit in Bucharest.
Summit participants will debate how to succeed in Afghanistan, but also focus on the contentious issue of NATO expansion into the Balkans and the former Soviet Unionسpecifically the possibility of membership for Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Georgia, and Ukraine.
Some in the American media believe the United States would be best served by encouraging the alliance to move forward with the current slate of aspirants.
The foreign ministers of NATO member states agreed in principle that Albania and Croatia should be offered membership, but are split on Macedonia. For more than 15 years, Greece has protested the former Yugoslav republic’s name, as it feels it implies a claim to a region of northern Greece also called Macedonia.
Based on this, Greece is threatening to veto membership for the country. If Macedonia is denied membership, NATO states have argued that it might be better to postpone a decision on Albania as well so that Macedonia is not the only state left behind.
However, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Policy Committee, disagreed recently saying, “If Greece and Macedonia do not manage to resolve the name issue, their failure should not penalize the chances of Croatia and Albania in their NATO accession process”, According to Biden, NATO accepting the three countries would draw the Balkans closer to the European future, as well as strengthen regional security.
U.S. Assistant State Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Daniel Fried, has said that Croatia is an important military partner, adding that the country has achieved political and economic progress, as well as implemented army reforms.
NATO’s European Commander, General John Craddock, has commented that Croatia, Albania and Macedonia provide enormous contributions to the ISAF Mission in Afghanistan, adding that their accession would not represent a burden for NATO resources, taking into account their contribution.
“There is a requirement within NATO that each country secures its own air defense, but since they cannot do this, NATO will”, stressed General Craddock.