Visegrad Group Nations Back Baltic States' NATO Membership on Condition

The Visegrad Group, comprised of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, will back the entry of the Baltic nations into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization "on the precondition" that Slovakia and Slovenia can enter the alliance at the same time.

The prime ministers of the four nations made the announcement Saturday after their annual meeting, which focused on their countries' accession to the European Union and on NATO enlargement, in Tihany, a resort nearing Balaton Lake in western Hungary.

"The Visegrad Group of countries fully supports the accession of the Baltic states in the next round of NATO expansion but there is a precondition to that," Hungarian Prime Minister Orban Viktor said at press conference.

He noted the precondition is that Slovakia and Slovenia get NATO membership "at the latest" by the time when the Baltic states enter the military bloc.

When the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO in March 1999, Slovakia had not yet reached its goal of becoming a NATO member.

"Slovakia's accession to NATO is one of the most important issues on the agenda today," echoed Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek.

"In 1998 when we revived the Visegrad cooperation, we set the goal to be together in the European Union and NATO," he added after the talks.

Orban, Buzek and Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman, whose states expect to join the EU around 2004, stressed that their talks with Brussels "are going on well."

At the meeting, the group also talked about augmenting cooperation among them in infrastructural construction and implementing a common development plan to link their highways, railways, pipes and cables.

The prime ministers, including Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, told reporters that the Visegrad Group will not accept new members, but will develop cooperation with neighboring states by other means.

The Visegrad Group was set up by Hungary, Poland and former Czechoslovakia in 1991, and was named after the northern Hungarian town of Visegrad, on the Danube, where the first summit was held. Its key aims are to promote integration into NATO and the EU and strengthen regional relations.

Since Czechoslovakia split into two countries in 1993, both have remained active members of the group.






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