Czech PM calls for NATO to welcome Balkan countries

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek closed a NATO conference in Prague calling on the Alliance to accept the countries of the Western Balkans into its ranks.

Izvor: Beta

Friday, 13.03.2009.

15:05

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Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek closed a NATO conference in Prague calling on the Alliance to accept the countries of the Western Balkans into its ranks. He also offered the hand of cooperation to Russia as the Alliance’s chief partner in preserving world security. Czech PM calls for NATO to welcome Balkan countries “It is clear that we must finish the integration of our own Euro-Atlantic territory. The countries of the Western Balkans are headed towards NATO and this is good,” Topolanek said. “This will bring to an end the existence of a pocket of permanent tension in Europe,” he told the conference, entitled “Ten Years of NATO Enlargement—Successes, Challenges, Perspectives.” Topolanek said that NATO’s basic mission was to defend freedom, which, however, must not be exported by force. He added that the security of the world also depended a great deal on cooperation with Russia. Topolanek warned that cooperation between NATO and Russia would be the key to forming a new strategic concept for the Alliance, adding that of all the great powers, Russia shared the most common values with the Alliance, and was also the closest geographically. Even though the integration of the Western Balkans is a clear goal supported by the Czech prime minister, a question mark continues to hang over the accession of countries such as Ukraine and Georgia. The two-day conference to mark the anniversary of Polish, Czech and Hungarian accession to NATO included numerous calls for further enlargement, and for both NATO and the EU not to use the pretext of the economic crisis to close their doors indefinitely.

Czech PM calls for NATO to welcome Balkan countries

“It is clear that we must finish the integration of our own Euro-Atlantic territory. The countries of the Western Balkans are headed towards NATO and this is good,” Topolanek said.

“This will bring to an end the existence of a pocket of permanent tension in Europe,” he told the conference, entitled “Ten Years of NATO Enlargement—Successes, Challenges, Perspectives.”

Topolanek said that NATO’s basic mission was to defend freedom, which, however, must not be exported by force.

He added that the security of the world also depended a great deal on cooperation with Russia.

Topolanek warned that cooperation between NATO and Russia would be the key to forming a new strategic concept for the Alliance, adding that of all the great powers, Russia shared the most common values with the Alliance, and was also the closest geographically.

Even though the integration of the Western Balkans is a clear goal supported by the Czech prime minister, a question mark continues to hang over the accession of countries such as Ukraine and Georgia.

The two-day conference to mark the anniversary of Polish, Czech and Hungarian accession to NATO included numerous calls for further enlargement, and for both NATO and the EU not to use the pretext of the economic crisis to close their doors indefinitely.

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