NATO Formally Invites 3 Nations to Join Fold

Steered by the United States, NATO on Tuesday threw open its doors to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, embracing as military partners three countries it once expected to battle in World War III.

The formal invitations were issued at a summit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization presidents and prime ministers in Madrid, where the United States resisted a vehement French campaign to also admit Romania and Slovenia. The expansion will give the alliance control of large territories near the Russian border and will mean that Germany no longer represents the Western military frontier in Europe.

In an official statement that helped assuage the protests of French President Jacques Chirac, NATO’s leaders also complimented the Baltic states and Romania and Slovenia for their progress as nations and suggested that they are candidates for future admission.

“We bridged a chasm in history and began a journey to a new Europe and a new century,” said President Clinton, who has made NATO expansion a personal goal and ultimately prevailed on skeptical Western European leaders to endorse his approach. “We have taken a giant stride in our efforts to create a Europe that is undivided, democratic and at peace” for the first time in modern history.

Clinton had to rely on American muscle and NATO’s rules requiring a unanimous vote for all significant decisions to prevail in his determination to limit expansion to the three nations, which formerly were members of the Warsaw Pact. U.S. officials conceded that a majority of the 16 current NATO members--led by France--called for immediate admission of Romania and Slovenia. But only Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic could command the needed consensus.

Clinton said the three countries are the most qualified for immediate entry; they “have done the hard work of freedom now for over seven years, and they have proved that they are ready to share in the full responsibility of NATO membership. These three nations have paved the way for others to follow.”

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But Chirac argued that Slovenia and Romania also met all of the criteria for membership and that including them “is just, politically and morally.” He complained that leaving out the two nations would damage alliance cohesion and leave NATO’s southern flank needlessly weakened.

The French president held up the final communique briefly until the allies agreed to specifically pledge to consider admission for Romania and Slovenia at NATO’s next scheduled summit, in 1999. Washington had been reluctant to accept a specific target date for the next expansion and had resisted singling out the two also-rans because U.S. officials said that would seem to rule out other possible candidates for the next round.

“France conceded nothing . . . not one single concession,” Chirac said after the meeting. “On the other hand, some things have been improved.”

After NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana extended Tuesday’s invitations, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Czech President Vaclav Havel and Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn shared the stage at a celebratory news conference.

“Poland waited so long, and now the doors to full NATO membership are open,” said Kwasniewski, a former Communist. “We are very satisfied, and we are ready to go forward.”

Havel said the invitations were a special achievement for countries that have shed their Communist pasts. “We are indeed very proud that the transformations of our political systems and economies have made us eligible to be considered an integral part of the alliance,” he said. “We also think very much about other countries aspiring to membership in NATO.”

Laszlo Kovacs, Hungary’s foreign minister, told reporters later: “NATO provides security that the [European Union] certainly cannot provide. . . . NATO membership should certainly increase the chances of Hungary joining the EU.”

The debate over enlarging NATO now is expected to heat up in the United States; the expansion will require approval in the Senate. Critical lawmakers are expected to question whether U.S. lives should be placed on the line in Central European conflicts. Nevertheless, members of a pro-expansion congressional delegation here in Madrid predicted ultimate approval.

Moreover, the cost of expansion could generate additional opposition. The administration estimates that the United States will have to contribute up to $200 million a year for a decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the costs to be far higher.

“We have a ways to go to convince the American people of the momentous importance of decisions we are making here,” Clinton said before the NATO vote was taken. He added that members of Congress have informed him “in no uncertain terms, we’ve got a sales job to do.”

Lawmakers in the other 15 member nations must also ratify the expansion agreement.

Tuesday’s announcement prompted an angry reaction in Moscow, where many officials question why NATO forces--once the avowed enemy--are moving ever closer to Russia despite the end of the Cold War.

“NATO enlargement is a big mistake, possibly the biggest mistake made since the end of the Second World War,” Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov complained to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency.

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin signed off on NATO expansion, albeit reluctantly, when he agreed last month to create a NATO-Russia council.

Under Tuesday’s agreement, NATO will start negotiations planned to yield a final deal with the three invitees at a foreign ministers’ meeting in December. Official membership, which requires integrating the newcomers’ military system with the Western alliance, would be final by April 1999, the alliance’s 50th anniversary. That is also the target date for selecting the next wave of new members.

NATO leaders viewed Tuesday’s action as a watershed for the alliance that for decades had targeted its firepower at the Soviet Union and its satellites in Central and Eastern Europe. “A defining moment” is how Solana termed the action.

“Madrid will be remembered as the time when North America and Europe came together to shape the course of a new century,” Solana said. “United by common purpose and shared values, the new alliance stands ready to shape a brighter, more secure future.”

In their final communique, the NATO members made a clear point of highlighting Romania and Slovenia as possible future members but stopped short of issuing formal invitations.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek told reporters that the former Yugoslav republic was disappointed but determined to make the next expansion list. “We accept the realities, we accept the facts, but we state very clearly . . . we expect to be included very soon . . . [in] one year to two years,” Drnovsek said.

The communique also praised Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia--the tiny Baltic republics that were annexed by the Soviet Union--for making progress toward “greater stability and cooperation” that could later qualify them for membership.

Inclusion of the Baltic republics would be especially controversial because Russia has made it clear that it objects most strongly to inclusion of any former Soviet republics.

Because of the Russian position, some NATO members have expressed doubts that the Baltics will ever be invited to join the alliance. But U.S. officials said Clinton wanted to make it clear that the Baltics will not be rejected forever.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the piecemeal approach will give unsuccessful candidates an incentive to continue economic and political reform.

“NATO has agreed to proceed with enlargement in a way that gives every aspiring member, from the Black Sea to the Baltic, an incentive to deepen reform and contribute to regional stability,” she said.

On a separate issue, the NATO presidents and prime ministers adopted a tough-sounding warning to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s feuding factions that the alliance will not permit a resumption of the Balkan war.

Although the statement said the mandate of the NATO-led international peacekeeping force ends next summer, it added, “We have a commitment to and a long-term interest in stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be in no doubt that there can be no military option for any party or ethnic group now or in the future,” the alliance said in an apparent hint that NATO might use military force to prevent a resumption of the war.

The alliance also pledged its political support for embattled Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic, who is in a political struggle with her predecessor, indicted war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

NATO members

Belgium

Britain

Denmark

France

Germany

Greece

Iceland

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Spain

Turkey

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Formally invited to join:

Poland

Czech Republic

Hungary (United States and Canada not on map)