Posted on 03/27/2008 3:36:16 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
BRUSSELS - France, Germany and a handful of other west European nations are sticking to their opposition to a U.S.-backed push to grant Ukraine and Georgia membership plans at next week's NATO summit, diplomats said on Thursday.
There must be full consensus among NATO's 26 allies before the two ex-Soviet states can embark on a step intended to prepare them for eventual membership of the Western military alliance, which Russia bitterly opposes.
Backed by Canada and most ex-communist central European NATO members, Washington has in recent days stepped up calls for Ukraine and Georgia to be granted a so-called "Membership Action Plan" at the summit in Bucharest starting next Wednesday.
But diplomats said France and Germany continued to argue that such a step was premature given NATO's poor public image in Ukraine and concerns over unsolved conflicts in two Russian-backed breakaway Georgian regions.
They said Paris and Berlin were backed by a group of west European states including Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and Italy -- although other officials characterised the Italian position as undecided on the question of timing.
"NATO has never given MAP to countries in the situation faced by either Ukraine or Georgia. We can decide in one year's time," said a senior diplomat from one of the sceptical nations, referring to the next NATO summit planned for 2009.
Only Germany has been vocal in public about its scepticism, with both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier voicing their doubts.
Diplomats said as many as 11 nations expressed reservations at a closed-door meeting of NATO foreign ministers earlier this month.
"If anything, the momentum is slightly in favour of there being more countries in favour of granting MAP. But NATO works with full consensus," said one envoy, making clear that a single country would be enough to block any decision.
Before NATO's last summit in Riga in 2006, several allies opposed giving Serbia a lower-level partnership agreement until last-minute U.S. pressure convinced them to stop resisting.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze acknowledged after talks at NATO on Wednesday that a number of allies had doubts about granting Georgia a MAP at Bucharest.
A day before, Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said any decision by NATO to grant membership to Georgia or Ukraine would undermine European security.
I suspect France and Germany are afraid the new members would tip the balance more in favor of the US.
Personally, I believe that the NATO treaty has outlived its usefulness and it is time to completely redefine our alliances in europe. Too many parasites have sucked off our blood and treasure for too long and are now totally addicted to both living under our protection and kicking us in the nuts for protecting them.
I’d rather see France and Germany cut loose and sent packing while new blood from eastern europe is brought into the program.
Germany has always been as close to a hereditary enemy as the US has had. The only time Germany has any use for the US was while the Russian bear held half their lands. Now that’s done, Germany is reverting back to traditional form.
France has always been the home of rabid anti-Americanism. Their current rhetoric might be slightly amended but not by much and, if the usual pattern holds, not for very long.
Allowing France into NATO was a mistake in the past, and, I suspect, will be proved to be a mistake now too.
Agreed!!!
The Ukraine has a sizable Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainian population. I wouldn’t bring a nation like that into NATO. And Georgia isn’t exactly the most stable nation, or so it seems. NATO was created for one purpose-to defend free Western Europe from Soviet imperialism. The USSR is gone (and good riddance), and, yes, ol’ Pootie is unsavory, but Europe can still defend itself.
“...but Europe can still defend itself.”
Not without us footing the bill in all ways that matter. The european military, outside of the UK, is mostly a cosmetic thing.
Also, russia will not be any threat to western europe for the foreseeable future. There’s no real there there, as far as projectable military power.
The only realistic problem russia can pose is in bending the appeasnicks in western europe into endless get rich quick schemes that serve no real purpose except to re enrich the remnants of former soviet party loyalists and their adoring fans in various european govs. And in providing a rally point to any and all knee jerk opposition to the US,which nearly everyone in that AO is raised up to hate with the same mindlessness as their habitual antisemitism.
If NATO doesn’t give them membership, that’s giving a green light to Russia to eventually suck them back into the Russian empire.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.