New Europe
April 7, 2008
At the Bucharest NATO summit (April 2-4), France and Germany rejected the admission of Ukraine and Georgia as new members of the alliance in order to maintain a balanced relation with Russia, despite strong pressure exerted by US President George W. Bush. Membership of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) was also rejected because of a Greek veto, although President Bush had pompously announced in the opening ceremony of the summit, a few hours earlier that “…the Alliance welcomes three new Member States, Croatia, Albania and Macedonia.” more