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INFO
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MACEDONIA TO OBTAIN NATO
INVITATION
ONCE NAME PROBLEM IS SOLVED
Macedonia will not acquire NATO membership invitation at the Bucharest
Summit. NATO leaders failed to reach consensus, but agreed that Alliance
doors remain open once the name dispute with Greece is resolved.
According to Alliance representatives, the North-Atlantic Council will
extend an invitation to Macedonia immediately after closure of the name
issue. The country does not have to wait for a new summit, but the formal
decision can be passed at a Council regular ministers or ambassadors'
meeting in Brussels.
U.S. President George Bush is scheduled to meet with Macedonian counterpart
Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on Thursday afternoon.
The meeting will be held after the end of the North-Atlantic Council
meeting, which focuses on the accession of Macedonia, Albania and Croatia in
NATO.
The meeting is ongoing, and the press conference of Alliance
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is delayed indefinitely.
BOCEVSKI: WE ARE
STAYING IN BUCHAREST FOR NOW
Government Spokesman Ivica Bocevski commented early Thursday for the BBC
program in Macedonian language the information that Macedonia would have to
wait for another chance to obtain the Alliance membership invitation, after
it resolves the bilateral name dispute with Greece.
Asked whether the Macedonian delegation would stay at the summit or leave
for Skopje before its end, he said all parties stated on Wednesday that
Macedonia has met all NATO membership criteria.
"Therefore, the Alliance membership of the free, righteous and democratic is
based on principles, and we have met those principles", said Bocevski.
"However, there is no invitation at this moment, and this is based on the
stance of our southern neighbor. Therefore, the Macedonian delegation will
wait for the result of the North-Atlantic Council meeting, and we will
afterwards give information on our further participation at this summit",
added Bocevski.
Pertaining to possible continuation of talks with Greece, after Greek
officials announced they want to resume negotiations, Bocevski said, "the
sincerity and openness of mind can best be seen by the fact that we still do
not have an invitation, whereas you will be informed through the appropriate
institutions regarding future moves".
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NEWS
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NATO BUCHAREST 2008 - MACEDONIA
FAILS TO OBTAIN NATO INVITATION
Macedonia has failed in obtaining a NATO membership invitation at the
Bucharest Summit. Alliance leaders agreed at Thursday's North-Atlantic
Council meeting that an invitation would be extended once the name issue is
resolved.
"The invitation for Macedonia is still not possible. We have agreed that the
invitation will be extended as soon as a solution to the name issue is
found. We encourage the process under UN auspices, and we regret that prior
talks have not yielded results", said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer at today's press conference.
According to him, NATO recognizes the hard work and commitment demonstrated
by Macedonia in meeting the Alliance values and its participation in
NATO-led operations.
Moreover, Scheffer congratulated Croatia and Albania, which acquired
membership invitations in Bucharest. |
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