7 European Nations Sign up with NATO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 27, 2003

7 European Nations Sign up with NATO

Seven central and east European nations signed treaties Wednesday to become members of NATO, an expansion hailed as a historic reunification of the continent after decades of Cold War division.

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Seven central and east European nations signed treaties Wednesday to become members of NATO, an expansion hailed as a historic reunification of the continent after decades of Cold War division.

Foreign ministers from Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia signed the papers at a formal ceremony at NATO headquarters before delegates from the 19 current NATO members.

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson praised the alliance for opening its doors, saying future historians will recognize the decision as a turning point in building a Europe "reunited and free, a Europe united in peace, democracy and common values from the Baltics to the Balkans, from the Atlantic to the Black Sea."

NATO invited the seven to join at a November summit in the Czech capital, Prague. The countries will become members in May 2004 if their parliaments ratify the treaties. They will be covered by the alliance's core security guarantee that states an attack on one member is an attack on all.

The United States firmly supported NATO's post-Cold War eastward expansion. In turn, it received strong backing from most newcomers for the the war against Iraq �� in marked contrast to opposition from long-standing allies France, Germany and Belgium.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld welcomed the pro-American sentiment from the easterners, saying it represented the views of a "new Europe," while French President Jacques Chirac denounced their refusal to back his anti-war stance.

Further underlining the demise of Cold War divisions, five of the new NATO members will join the European Union in May 2004 along with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which became NATO members in 1999.

Romania and Bulgaria must wait until 2007 before they enter the EU.

In Slovenia �� the only one of the seven NATO candidates to have a referendum on the alliance, 66.2% of citizens voted Sunday to support their country's membership.

Source: Agencies

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