By Xinhua
Bucharest : Ukraine’s and Georgia’s bids for a NATO membership action plan (MAP) were thwarted at the NATO summit amid fears among European allies that the move would enrage Russia.
Leaders failed to reach a consensus on whether to give MAP, a program that will put aspirant countries on the path toward full membership, to the two countries after two days of talks, despite a strong push from U.S. President George W. Bush.
The leaders decided to leave the issue to a meeting of their foreign ministers in December 2008.
To appease the two countries, the leaders said they will join MAP and ultimately become NATO members.
“NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euroatlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO,” said the leaders in a declaration.
“MAP is the next step for Ukraine and Georgia on their direct way to membership. Today we make it clear that we support these countries’ applications for MAP,” they said.
The snub, as well as the vetoing of Macedonia’s bid to be invited to join NATO, is seen as a setback for Bush.
Germany and France were against MAP for Ukraine and Georgia. They feared the move would further antagonize Russia following Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence and the U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
On the other hand, they feared that internal problems in these two countries would bring instability to NATO.
There is strong opposition to NATO membership in Ukraine, especially in the Russian-speaking areas, while the government of Georgia does not control its breakaway regions.
Russia has warned that NATO membership for the two former Soviet republics would bring instability, even war, to the region.