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GERMAN CHANCELLOR OPPOSES GRANTING NATO MEMBERSHIP TO UKRAINE AND GEORGIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.03.2008 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled she
opposes granting North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership to
former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia.
"A country should become a NATO member not only when its temporary
political leadership is in favor but when a significant percentage
of the population supports membership," Merkel said in Berlin in
reference to Ukraine and Georgia.
"Countries that are themselves entangled in regional conflicts, can
in my opinion not become members," she added after talks with NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Kyev and Tbilisi are expected to use the NATO military alliance's April
2-4 summit in Romania to confirm that they are candidates to join the
alliance but their chances of securing a formal invitation seem remote.
Ukraine's leaders have asked to join NATO's Membership Action Plan, but
public opinion at home is largely against the move, the AFP reports.
Merkel's remarks came just a few hours after Georgia's foreign
minister, Davit Bakradze, told journalists in Tbilisi that there was
not a single NATO member-state "openly declaring its opposition to
Georgia's NATO membership." He did, however, acknowledge that there
was no consensus within the alliance about when to extend MAP to
Georgia and Ukraine.
In Georgia, the public is largely in favor of NATO membership, but
the alliance was made uneasy by the state of emergency the government
imposed in December to end opposition protests.
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.03.2008 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled she
opposes granting North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership to
former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia.
"A country should become a NATO member not only when its temporary
political leadership is in favor but when a significant percentage
of the population supports membership," Merkel said in Berlin in
reference to Ukraine and Georgia.
"Countries that are themselves entangled in regional conflicts, can
in my opinion not become members," she added after talks with NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Kyev and Tbilisi are expected to use the NATO military alliance's April
2-4 summit in Romania to confirm that they are candidates to join the
alliance but their chances of securing a formal invitation seem remote.
Ukraine's leaders have asked to join NATO's Membership Action Plan, but
public opinion at home is largely against the move, the AFP reports.
Merkel's remarks came just a few hours after Georgia's foreign
minister, Davit Bakradze, told journalists in Tbilisi that there was
not a single NATO member-state "openly declaring its opposition to
Georgia's NATO membership." He did, however, acknowledge that there
was no consensus within the alliance about when to extend MAP to
Georgia and Ukraine.
In Georgia, the public is largely in favor of NATO membership, but
the alliance was made uneasy by the state of emergency the government
imposed in December to end opposition protests.