No. 7 (07/03/97)   A month of euroatlantic integration (February 1997)

February 1st

• The USA and France are Æon the same wavelength" with respect to the extension of NATO to the east and with respect to the negotiations about the agreement between the organisation and Russia about the regulation of the relations - said the White House spokesman. Michael Curry talked about a telephone conversation between president Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac French head of state about the extension and modernisation of the NATO, among other things. The discussion was mainly about the significance of the agreement to be concluded between NATO and Russia and about the questions of the agenda of the NATO summit to be held in June in Madrid.

February 2nd

• The discussion between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and French president Jacques Chirac about the new European system of security, the planned extension of NATO and the bilateral relations only lasted an hour and a quarter. Sergej Jastrzembskij, spokesman of the Russian president, said that the discussion was characterised by Æopenness and friendly harmony" which also characterises the relationship of the two countries. It was confirmed at the discussion that the next summit would be held at theend of September.
• Romania meets the requirements needed to start the negotiations about NATO accession - said Victor Ciorbea Romanian prime minister in connection with his discussion with John Kornblum, foreign affairs deputy secretary of state responsible for European and Canadian affairs. Kornblum pointed it out that they intend to support Romania in reaching their aims in European integration, because the victory of the former opposition at the Parliamentary and presidential elections showed that Romania has become a country with an open and democratic society.

February 4th

• Olexander Kuzmuk, Ukrainian minister of defence said: it is not excluded that Ukraine will change their present position outside the block and they might join NATO. Michael Portillo, British minister of defence pointed out during his visit to Kiev that the special partnership agreement between Ukraine and NATO may be concluded before the NATO meeting to be held in July.
• Russia would accept the NATO accession of Hungary and the other members of the former Warsaw Pact, if the Atlantic Organisation regulated their new system of relations with Moscow in an agreement before the NATO summit that is to make an official decision about the extension in July - said Anatolij Tsubais, director of the Russian presidential office.

February 5th

• ÆI do not think that Turkey would put a veto on the planned extension of the NATO as, together with the other member states, they also supported the summoning of the Madrid summit of the organisation in July and the agenda of the meeting on which the extension is one of the most important topics" - said Javier Solana during his short visit to Hungary.

February 6th

• The USA rejected the French proposal to hold a summit with the participation of France, the USA, Britain, Germany and Russia in Paris in April to determine the future relations of NATO and Moscow and to prepare the summit to be held in Madrid in July to decide upon the extension of the North Atlantic Organisation. Nicholas Burns, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Washington said that the reason for the rejection was that the Æopinion of all NATO members, both the big ones and the small ones, should be considered" in the questions talked about and that they should concentrate on the Madrid summit. He added that Javier Solana, secretary general of NATO enjoys full confidence of the USA in his negotiations about the charter of the NATO-Moscow relations. The idea of the summit of the five participants was also rejected by Italy, but it is carefully supported by Moscow.

February 8th

• Victor Tsernomirdin, Russian head of government can see a possibility for Moscow and the West finding a mutually acceptable solution in the question of NATO extension. Tsernomirdin said in his interview: his discussions with president Bill Clinton and vice president Al Gore convinced him that the dialogue has to be continued so that they understand what can be expected from NATO extension.

February 10th

• The leaders of the neutral Moldavia are pressing NATO to provide Moldavia and the neutral countries in general with safety guarantees - said Javier Solana, secretary general of the organisation in Chisinau. He said that before the planned extension of NATO he was not only interested in Moscow's opinion but also in the opinion of the other members of the community of states. The leaders of Moldavia are watching it with concern that neighbouring Romania is striving to join NATO. Mikhail Popov, minister of foreign affairs expressed his hopes that the extension plans of NATO would encourage Romania to conclude a basic agreement with Moldavia.

February 11th

• Putting off the extension of NATO would create a continuous tension and it would cause uncertainty in the heart of Europe - said Madeleine Albright in the committee of foreign affairs of the US house of representatives. The minister of foreign affairs expressed it more determinedly than ever before that it is out of question to replace the North Atlantic Organisation with something else, to merge it into another organisation or to transform it so that its all embracing collective safety character would cease.

February 12th

• ÆWhy should the British government that is not very enthusiastic about the European monetary union to be introduced in the future undertake the obligation to protect Hungary?" - Hugh Hanning, vice president of the British Atlantic Council put up this question to support his opinion that the planned extension of NATO Æis a dangerous nonsense which seems to be unstoppable".

February 13th

• As the extension is approaching NATO wants to find out in the course of the round-trip of the chief secretary what Moldavia and the Caucasian republics, as the neighbours of Russia, think about that the price of the extension might be the inspection of the traditional disarmament agreement - implies the Komsomolskaia Pravda, a Moscow paper, a hidden intention behind the visits of Javier Solana.
• Javier Solana, secretary general of NATO was surprised to hear the charges of Moscow that the aim of his trip around the four CIS republics - Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - is to isolate Russia and to put hindrances in the way of the integration within the community of states. Solana, emphasising that the given countries invited him to his round trip, repeated in Jerevan: NATO does not want to isolate anybody and they by no means want to interfere with the relations between the member countries of the CIS.
• Igor Rodionov, Russian minister of defence is of the opinion that after a short period of easement there is a danger of the relations becoming cold again because of the eastern extension of NATO. At the same time he declared: Moscow can accept the eastern extension, if NATO undertakes it with a compulsory document that they shall not position atomic weapons or troops on the territory of the new member states either at present or in the future.

February 14th

• The Slovakian Parliament accepted the resolution proposal submitted by the fraction of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia about a national referendum on the NATO membership of the country. The head of state is obliged to announce it within thirty days and to determine the date of the referendum within 90 days.

February 16th

• According to Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, Polish minister of foreign affairs, the Russian secret service is planning scandals to discredit the country's government and to prevent Poland from joining NATO and the European Union.
• The questions of Romania's NATO integration were discussed at the meeting of the Highest Council of Defence which was presided by Emil Constantinescu, head of the state. First of all it was emphasised by the committee that the fundamental aim of Romanian foreign politics is to provide the conditions for Romania's European and Euro-Atlantic integration Æon a completely improved new basis".

February 17th

• The USA and Germany find it especially important that an agreement be achieved with Russia before the NATO summit to be held in Madrid in July, so they will use every possibility of dialogue between Russia and the West. It was announced by Madeleine Albright, American and Klaus Kinkel, German minister of foreign affairs at their press conference in Bonn and at the same time they emphasised that NATO would by all means stick to the set agenda of the eastern extension and that a decision would be made in the Spanish capital city about the first group of new members.
• Bulgaria also expressed their intention to become a member of NATO so they require to be invited to the Summit of the organisation in July - stated the temporary government of Sofia in their declaration.
• The extension of the European Union is an extremely important process which should not be considered as a kind of compensation or consolation prize - said Madeleine Albright, US minister of foreign affairs in the centre of the European Committee in the course of a short discussion with Jacques Santer, president of the committee and the members of the committee. Hans van den Broek, member of the Committee responsible for foreign politics and Eastern European affairs emphasised that according to the European judgement the future extension of the EU and NATO are parallel but independent processes.

February 19th

• Russia is still against the eastern extension of NATO. It was expressed to Klaus Kinkel, German minister of foreign affairs, by all his negotiating partners from president Yeltsin to Rodionov, minister of defence.

February 21st

• Madeleine Albright, US minister of foreign affairs negotiated with president Yeltsin about the acceleration of the preparation of the agreement between the NATO and Russia. The leader of American diplomacy talked about significant progress at her press conference, but she did not hide that there is still a lot of work to do before the Nato summit in July. The American minister of foreign affairs announced that in the forthcoming period they would accelerate the efforts for the elaboration of the agreement between NATO and Russia. Her colleague, Jevgenij Primakov added to all this that though Russia is against the extension of NATO, they try to do everything they can to moderate the complications deriving from it.

February 23rd

• There are still differences of opinion after the discussion between Javier Solana, secretary general of NATO and Jevgenij Primakov, Russian minister of foreign affairs, but it is promising that there is an obvious effort for agreement from the Russian part as well - they said in Brussels.

February 27th

• Moscow should not have the illusion that the negotiations with NATO could slow down the extension of the organisation. The North Atlantic Organisation intends to name at least three Central European countries to be accepted at the summit of the organisation in Madrid in July, if the collaboration agreement with Russia is not concluded by then - written in the International Herald Tribune, the English daily published in Paris.