NATO candidates agree to avoid competition

TALLINN - "The Baltic states will proceed with their NATO-aimed partnership and try to avoid any nasty competition with each other and the rest of the NATO candidate countries," was how Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves put it at a meeting of the Vilnius Group in Tallinn on July 2.

The ministers of foreign affairs of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia represent the Vilnius Group in the NATO enlargement queue.

The meeting was held to discuss recent developments in the NATO enlargement debate. The participants noted with satisfaction the clear commitment of the alliance to proceed with invitations at the Prague summit in 2002.

"While Slovenia enjoys the support of southern Europe, the Baltic states have strong support from the Nordic countries. Regional backing is evident," said Ilves when asked which NATO members back which candidates.

In a joint statement, the ministers said they hoped NATO would adhere to the principle of widening the common zone of security and stability in Europe, regardless of geography and history, and would invite all qualified democracies to join the alliance in 2002.

"The decision whom to invite depends upon what we do at home," Ilves said. "And the point here is to avoid nasty competition but continue a normal partnership."

"The alliance is not in the process of expansion, but enlargement, based on a unity of values and the free expression of the will of people of democratic nations, and that this process is in everyone's interest and not directed against any nation," claims the ministers' statement.

The ministers lauded President George W. Bush for his visionary speech in Warsaw on European security and noted the importance of the president's first official visit to Europe for U.S.-European relations, as well as the positive effect of the pro-enlargement statements by many European leaders.

Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins said the Vilnius Group wants to expand NATO because of common values and future prospects. "I do not see any particular member country that is against enlargement. Anyway, we have about one-and-a-half years to persuade those (member countries) who doubt enlargement," he said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis evidently felt himself to be the hero of the meeting, bearing in mind the recent NATO summit in Vilnius. He assured his audience that the new government of Lithuania will keep foreign policy aimed at NATO and the EU. "I guarantee it," he said.

All of the countries reaffirmed their commitment to the membership action plan and their resolve to allocate the financial resources necessary for full implementation of national objectives (including the 2 percent of GDP recommended by NATO for defense) in the Vilnius Group's countries.

The presidents of the countries in the Vilnius Group will meet at the summit of the new democracies in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 5, 2001. In June or July 2002 Riga will host the prime ministers of the countries.