Enlargement Issues at NATO's Bucharest Summit

Abstract

NATO will hold a summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, 2008, and a principal issue will be the consideration of the candidacies for membership of Albania, Croatia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM, or the Republic of Macedonia). These candidate states are small, with correspondingly small militaries, and their inclusion in the alliance cannot be considered strategic in a military sense. However, it is possible that they could play an important role in the stabilization of southeastern Europe. At Bucharest NATO will also consider whether to offer a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine. The MAP is a viewed as a way station to membership. However, Russia's strong objection to the two countries eventual membership, as well as internal separatist conflicts in Georgia and public opposition to allied membership in Ukraine are among several factors that may slow the two countries path to closer association with NATO. Energy security for candidate states in a future round of enlargement may also prove to be an important issue. Most observers believe that Macedonia and Albania have made strides in modernizing their militaries. However, some questions about other qualifications persist for example, concerning internal political conflict, and measures to tackle corruption and organized crime. An enduring dispute with Greece over Macedonia s formal name could also delay Macedonia s entry. The allies appear to believe that Croatia has moved well along the road to membership; modest Croatian public support for NATO membership has been a concern to allies. Process is important in the three countries efforts to join the alliance. Each of the current 26 allies must agree at Bucharest to extend invitations. The candidate states will be considered individually, and a lack of consensus on a candidate can block its invitation to join.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 12, 2008
Accession Number
ADA481837

Entities

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  • Carl Ek
  • Jim Nichol
  • Julie Kim
  • Paul Belkin
  • Paul E. Gallis
  • Steven Woehrel

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  • Library of Congress

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