Nineteen NATO states will be represented by 214 members of their countries' parliaments, while 73 MPs will come from 15 NATO associate members. NATO Secretary General George Robertson will also join the meeting.
The parliamentary assembly, which is independent of the Alliance itself, gathers twice a year and serves an advisory role to NATO. It has no decision-making powers.
Nevertheless, it is the first NATO-related event of such a large scale in the Baltic states.
"The main issues of this session will be NATO enlargement, the American anti-missile space defense program, and the functioning of the European Union's military unit," said Gediminas Kirkilas, a Social Democrat MP and deputy chairman of the Lithuanian delegation to the parliamentary assembly.
During the last session of the NATO parliamentary assembly in Berlin, U.S. congressmen proposed a resolution to invite what they deemed as the three best prepared candidates – Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia – to join NATO in 2002.
However, MPs decided not to vote on the resolution after representatives of other NATO countries complained about not mentioning more candidate countries.
"A resolution on NATO enlargement is expected in the Vilnius session. It might draw some interesting discussions. For example, the Germans have said they are in favor of inviting all three Baltic countries," Kirkilas said.
Asked by The Baltic Times about his prognosis on the Baltic countries' prospects of being invited for membership during the NATO summit in the fall of 2002, Kirkilas answered confidently that Vilnius will get an invitation to join.
"Lithuania will be invited to join NATO, while Latvia and Estonia will not get an invitation in 2002," Kirkilas said.
He argued that the Lithuanian army already meets NATO standards and Lithuania has spent far more money on defense than Latvia and Estonia in the last 10 years. On May 17, on the initiative of Parliamentary Chairman Arturas Paulauskas, Lithuania's defense and foreign affairs ministers and the leaders of all Lithuania's major ruling and opposition parties agreed to sign a common document stating that Lithuania will spend 2 percent of its GDP on defense in 2002.
"NATO officials have criticized the new members, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland, for lagging behind in bringing their militaries up to standard," Kirkilas said. "Their armies need a transformation period from Soviet-style to NATO-standard militaries. We have no such problems. A decade ago, we started to create our army from scratch and created it according to the NATO example. The Lithuanian army is closer to NATO standards than some of those of NATO members."
He emphasized that Lithuania would not be invited in 2002 only if NATO decides against any enlargement at all.
But that seems unlikely. The NATO apparatus has been creating enormous pressure on Lithuanian politicians in recent years. The choice of Vilnius as the host of the assembly meeting is a good sign.
Vaidotas Urbelis, an analyst with Vilnius University's International Affairs and Political Science Institute, said that the most steadfast European supporters of NATO enlargement to include the Baltic states are Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
Only preparedness for membership counts, and that is why the Americans single out Lithuania from the Baltics, he said.
Many observers, however, see the enlargement question as political rather than one of simple military preparedness.
The first clear signal about NATO enlargement is expected during a visit by U.S. President George Bush to Europe in June. Poland will be among his stops.
It is well known that one of the biggest "Baltic skeptics" is Germany, despite Kirkilas' comments to the contrary. But Lithuania's Parliamentary Chairman Arturas Paulauskas said he left Germany's Bundestag with a good impression following a visit there earlier this month.
He said he was surprised when both the ruling German Social Democrats and the opposition Christian Democrats spoke in favor of extending NATO membership to the Baltics.
According to news reports, Russian MPs will boycott the Vilnius meeting. "At the moment we have no official confirmation of this," said Petras Zapolskas, director of Lithuania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In April the leader of the Communist faction in the Russian Duma, Genady Zyuganov, suggested a boycott of the meeting. "Without a doubt this is an attempt to boost efforts to include the other Baltic states in NATO, not just Lithuania," he said.
At the same time, a member of the pro-government Yedinstvo faction and the curator of the Duma's contact group with the Lithuanian Parliament, Alexander Chuyev, advised Duma deputies not to boycott.
He told Baltic News Service in April: "I believe it wouldn't be right not to go. The process of NATO expansion is happening, and we will not able to stop it. Letters, declarations and gestures will change nothing, and will only hurt our relations with Lithuania and NATO."
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