Expansion plans steady, says NATO chief

  • 2001-12-06
  • Aleksei Gunter, TALLINN
On a brief visit to Estonia's capital of Tallinn, NATO Secretary General George Robertson praised Estonia's preparations to join NATO but expressed concerns about support for membership among the Estonian public, Nov. 29.

Robertson told reporters that strong support from the government alone was not enough. The alliance, he said, accepts "not just governments but states."

But Robertson gave some words of reassurance to those concerned that swiftness of his visit en route from Moscow after canceling visits to neighboring Latvia and Lithuania signaled a lack of interest in the Baltics' NATO membership ambitions. He said the alliance had given Russia clear signals that NATO would stay firmly on course for enlargement.

NATO considers Russia neither an enemy nor a friend, but a partner in cooperation, said Robertson.

At a meeting with Robertson, Estonian Defense Minister Juri Luik stressed that allocating the necessary 2 percent of Estonian GDP for defense goals would enable the development of an effective, NATO-oriented defense structure.

The NATO secretary general also said it was important to continue Estonian peacekeeping in Kosovo and Bosnia.

He praised the Estonian government's efforts to inform Estonians about NATO membership.

According to the latest poll carried out by the Defense Ministry and published in November, 66 percent of Estonian voters back Estonian NATO membership. But support is lower when the large number of Russian-speaking non-citizens is taken into account. Of all adults living in Estonia 51 percent want their country to join NATO.

Support for NATO membership has increased throughout Estonian society in the last six months, a fact which Defense Ministry officials link to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In June 2001, 60 percent of voters were ready to say "yes" to membership of the alliance.

Robertson expressed hope that support would increase further by the time of next November's NATO summit in Prague which is expected to address the expansion issue.

Calling Estonia "an excellent candidate for NATO membership," Robertson said that all the nine countries aiming for this goal are now at the same level of preparedness to join up.