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Wed, 25 Feb 04
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NE-@latvia-usa.org
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Feb 25, 2004 08:59 PST
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NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)
Wednesday, 25 February 2004, 11:59 EDT
---------------------------------------------
* NATO CEREMONY TO WELCOME SEVEN NEW MEMBERS EXPECTED APRIL
2 / AFP
* CHIRAC REASSURES "NEW EUROPE" AT ENLARGEMENT CROSSROAD /
AFP / Philippe Goulliaud
* EUROPEAN DEFENSE AMBITIONS NO THREAT TO NATO: CHIRAC /
AFP
* US ACCEPTS GERMAN "NO" ON TROOPS FOR IRAQ: AMBASSADOR /
AFP
* U.S. ENVOY TELLS GERMANY TO SPEND MORE ON MILITARY / AFP
* SCHROEDER MEETS BUSH ON FEBRUARY 27 / DPA / Leon
Mangasarian
* IRON LADY OF FRANCE PUTS CASE FOR THE DEFENCE / The Times
/ Adam Sage
* LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT COUNTERATTACKS / AFP / Arturas Racas
* BULGARIAN RIGHT SPLITS IN ROW OVER HOW TO STOP
EX-COMMUNISTS / AFP
* GERMAN FM EXPECTED IN BOSNIA TO DISCUSS ECONOMIC, EU
ISSUES / AFP
* GEORGIAN PRESIDENT RULES OUT MILITARY FORCE AGAINST
SECESSIONISTS / AFP
* EU PRESSES FOR NEW ACCORD DESPITE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT'S
DISMISSAL /AFP / Jitendra Joshi
---------------------------------------------
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NATO CEREMONY TO WELCOME SEVEN NEW MEMBERS EXPECTED APRIL 2
AFP, 23 Feb 04
NATO will welcome seven new members from eastern Europe at
a ceremony that is expected to be held on April 2 at the
organisation's headquarters in Brussels, an official of the
transatlantic alliance said Monday.
The date of April 2 is "98-percent" certain, said the
official, who asked not to be named.
The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,
as well as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia will
formally become NATO members at the ceremony, enlarging the
alliance from 19 to 26 countries.
The seven were invited to join during a summit of NATO
leaders in Prague in November 2002 and their
representatives are already present at meetings although do
not take part in decisions.
The enlargement ceremony, which should be attended by the
countries' prime ministers, coincides with an informal
meeting of NATO foreign ministers on April 2.
That meeting is to discuss the NATO operation in
Afghanistan, as well as the possible role for the alliance
in Iraq, and to prepare for the summit of the organisation
in late June in Istanbul, Turkey.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, set up during the
Cold War to counter the Soviet threat, was last enlarged in
1999 to include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
CHIRAC REASSURES "NEW EUROPE" AT ENLARGEMENT CROSSROAD
AFP, 24 Feb 04, by Philippe Goulliaud
Visiting French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday sought
to reassure 10 new members-in-waiting of the European Union
that France opposes the idea of a two-speed Europe as the
bloc stands at the crossroads of its historic expansion
eastwards.
"I know the questions that an enlarged Europe raises as to
its capacity to move forward," Chirac said in an address to
the Hungarian parliament. "I also know the fears in certain
parts of a two-speed Europe.
"I have only this to say: It's a Europe of 25 that France
wants to build."
Chirac was speaking on the last day of his two-day visit to
Hungary, one of 10 countries -- mostly former communist
states in central and eastern Europe -- due to join the EU
on May 1.
Last week, Chirac met in Berlin with the leaders of Germany
and Britain for summit talks which other European countries
interpreted as a bid to dominate EU politics.
Chirac stressed France wanted to "advance the Union as a
whole," but stressed that some countries should be allowed
to take the initiative within the enlarged EU.
"Some countries will have the will and capacity to go
faster and farther: let's open up the road to them," Chirac
said. "Others are more hesitant: let's give them the
necessary time."
Following talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter
Medgyessy, the French leader also called for a review of
criteria set for allocating EU funding for the 10 incoming
members.
"We cannot indefinitely increase the contribution towards
countries because the European growth rate does not allow
us to do so and we have to distribute our means prudently,"
he told reporters.
Chirac stressed however that the new entrants should
benefit from what he called "the essential principle of the
European Union: solidarity."
"In that spirit, the 10 incoming members have the right to
benefit from solidarity ... to make up for the fact that in
some ways they lag behind because of their history."
"This implies that the Union will have to make a great
effort, but also that we will have to redefine the criteria
by which countries benefit from that solidarity."
Chirac also urged the EU to have "more respect for Russia"
a day after EU states issued an ultimatum to a reluctant
Moscow to sign an agreement on partnership with the
enlarged bloc.
"At least we should be able to talk on friendly terms."
Monday, EU foreign ministers warned Russia of a "serious
impact" on relations if Moscow fails to sign a new
partnership accord before the EU expansion on May 1.
The ministers told Russia to stop stalling on signing a new
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to cover the 10
states joining the European Union in what was seen by
Moscow media as a threat of trade sanctions.
Chirac again urged the adoption of a constitution for the
EU, "as soon as possible", as well as greater military
might for the bloc.
"We are at a crossroads now," Chirac said in his address to
Hungarian lawmakers. "Our Europe needs a new political
project....Let's adopt the constitution as soon as possible
in 2004."
He said the enlarged EU needed a strong military capability
in order "to make its voice heard on the international
scene.
"We know that to be credible diplomacy must sometimes be
backed by military force," he noted.
Chirac however made it clear that an autonomous European
defense force would not mean member countries would have to
choose between their commitment to the EU and their
obligations withing NATO.
Medgyessy, who sided with Washington over the invasion of
Iraq, told AFP in an interview last week he sought to
balance trans-Atlantic and European interests and wants a
"multi-polar world."
"Nobody is asking Hungary to choose between NATO and the
European defense" force, Chirac said in parliament on
Tuesday. "A stronger Europe is a stronger (NATO) alliance."
EUROPEAN DEFENSE AMBITIONS NO THREAT TO TRANSATLANTIC
ALLIANCE: CHIRAC
AFP, 23 Feb 04
French President Jacques Chirac said here on Monday that
Europe's defense ambitions would not threaten the
transatlantic alliance.
"A stronger Europe is a stronger NATO," Chirac said at a
press briefing after meeting Hungarian President Ferenc
Madl.
"It is indispensable that Europe have a defense"
capability, Chirac added, noting "we recently made a
decisive step in this domain".
"Europe must have the means to intervene if it deems
necessary," Chirac said. "This is completely in line with
our commitment vis-a-vis NATO and (our) transatlantic
solidarity."
Chirac also urged Hungary, which joins the European Union
on May 1, to take an active role in a future European
military force.
The French president is on a two-day visit to Hungary to
strengthen bilateral relations, notably economic and
cultural ties.
US ACCEPTS GERMAN "NO" ON TROOPS FOR IRAQ: AMBASSADOR
AFP, 24 Feb 04
The United States accepts Berlin's decision not to send
troops to Iraq, the US ambassador to Germany said Tuesday
in a radio interview ahead of a visit by Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder to Washington.
"The German government has said that it does not want to
send Bundeswehr soldiers to Iraq," Ambassador Daniel Coats
told Bayerischer Rundfunk.
"We accept that. We are happy that the federal government
announced it would not stand in the way of a NATO
engagement in Iraq. There is no need for German troops
there," he said, in comments translated into German.
NATO is considering deploying troops to help stabilize the
war-torn country. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said
earlier this month that Germany would not stand in the way
of a consensus in favor of NATO involvement but has ruled
out supplying troops for the effort.
Coats said President George W. Bush wanted to put aside its
differences with Germany, which was one of the most vocal
critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"We need to move forward and the president's meeting with
the chancellor is a positive step forward," Coats said.
Schroeder will embark on a two-day visit to the United
States Thursday and meet Bush Friday for their first talks
at the White House in more than two years.
Coats said the two leaders would discuss a proposal made by
Fischer at an international security conference in Munich
this month for a new transatlantic initiative to foster
prosperity in the Middle East.
The initiative was well-received in Washington and will be
discussed at the Group of Eight summit of the world's
wealthiest nations in the United States in June, Coats
said.
Coats said Washington would like to see Germany take on a
larger role in world affairs.
"As the third largest economy in the world and the largest
country in Europe, we see Germany as a leader that together
with us, is active in Africa, in the Middle East and in
other areas," we said.
"We would welcome it if Germany strengthened its economy,
its military and its foreign policy."
U.S. ENVOY TELLS GERMANY TO SPEND MORE ON MILITARY
AFP, 25 Feb 04
Two days before German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visits
the White House, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin on Feb. 25
told Germany that it had to increase the amount of money it
spends on defense.
Daniel Coats suggested in a newspaper interview that
Germany was one of a number of NATO countries whose
relatively low defense spending could threaten the
alliance?s long-term effectiveness.
?If Germany wants to have the necessary military
capabilities, it must dedicate at least two percent of its
gross domestic product to defense,? Coats told the Berliner
Zeitung daily in remarks translated into German.
German defense spending this year is a little more than 24
billion euros ($30 billion), which corresponds to 1.4
percent of GDP.
Coats welcomed German government efforts to restructure its
armed forces.
But he went on: ?The experts tell us that military spending
in many NATO countries is so low that there is a danger
that the alliance will not be able to act effectively in
the long run.?
He said the United States did not want always to take the
lead in the fight against terrorism, ?but we are forced to
because our allies cannot always keep pace.?
Schroeder flies Feb. 26 to the United States, where on Feb.
27 he will visit the White House for the first time in more
than two years.
The main theme of his talks with U.S. President George W.
Bush is set to be Iraq and how Germany, which fiercely
opposed last year?s U.S. invasion, may meet U.S. requests
for more help in supporting the financial and military
burden of stabilizing and reconstructing the country.
Schroeder has ruled out sending soldiers but indicated that
Berlin would be willing to consider debt relief.
Germany?s Die Welt daily, quoting government sources, said
he would make a ?significant? gesture, probably by offering
to cancel a portion of Iraq?s debt and reschedule the rest.
Iraq owes Germany some $2.4 billion, as well as 1.6 billion
in accumulated interest since 1990, Die Welt said. It
suggested Berlin may be prepared to write off as much as
two thirds of that debt.
US-GERMAN THAW - SCHROEDER MEETS BUSH ON FEBRUARY 27
DPA, 24 Feb 04 by Leon Mangasarian
Ties between the United States and Germany - chilled by
differences over the Iraq war - will continue to thaw this
Friday when President George W. Bush receives Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder in the White House.
"The visit shows they have both returned to being
statesmen," said Gary Smith, head of the elite American
Academy in Berlin, a leading think tank and German-American
networking centre. U.S.-German political relations were
plunged into their worst post-1945 crisis after Schroeder
led opposition to last year's Iraq war and infuriated Bush
by using the issue to win re-election. Insults flew back
and forth across the Atlantic with American officials
describing ties as "poisoned" and prescribing a policy of
ignoring Germany. German politicians hardly made the
situation better with a cabinet minister comparing Bush
with Hitler and top member of Schroeder's party dubbing the
U.S. president a modern day Roman emperor. Bush refused to
speak with Schroeder for almost a year and the ice was only
broken at the June 2003 summit of G8 industrial nations in
Evian, France where the leaders shook hands. This was
followed by further talks in New York last September. "We
shouldn't keep looking in the rear view mirror - what
happened, happened," said U.S. Ambassador to Germany Daniel
Coats in a Bayerischer Rundfunk radio interview. Smith took
a more cautious position, saying: "I think it's obvious it
will be a long road back to a strong German-American
political relationship." Nevertheless, the tone from
Washington has changed markedly in the past months with the
capture of Saddam Hussein closing one chapter of the Iraq
conflict as U.S. and allied forces struggle to stem ongoing
violence as Baghdad lurches toward democratic transition.
Schroeder has vowed not to send troops to Iraq and
Ambassador Coats underlined that Bush would not ask for
soldiers. "The German government says it does not want to
send Bundeswehr troops to Iraq. We accept this ... there is
no need for German troops there," said Coats. What the U.S.
does seek is Berlin's backing for internationalizing Iraq
and Ambassador Coats strongly welcomed two points which
will be high on the Schroeder-Bush agenda during talks over
lunch at the White House. - Germany's pledge not block
moves to insert the NATO alliance into Iraq as has already
been done in Afghanistan. - Positive German reaction
President Bush's initiative for Mideast reform which is
expected to be high on the agenda at NATO and G8 summits
this June. It is therefore no surprise that Schroeder and
Bush will focus on the Middle East, officials say. The
German leader is expected to stress the European view that
progress in the region hinges on resolving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite ruling out troops for
Iraq, Berlin has sought to sweeten relations with Bush by
setting up an Iraqi police training programme, forgiving
Iraqi debt and holding out prospects of basing a medical
evacuation jet in Baghdad to fly injured U.S. soldiers to
American military hospitals in Germany. Away from
international affairs, Bush and Schroeder both have a
domestic agenda which is driving forward their
rapprochement, said the American Academy's Smith who
underlined both men are at record lows in opinion polls.
Bush is being attacked by his likely challenger in November
elections, John Kerry, for trashing ties with key allies in
the run- up to the Iraq war. Schroeder is battling
left-wingers in his own Social Democratic Party over
economic reforms and the news magazine Der Spiegel says the
Chancellor now sees foreign policy as the best way to win a
place in the history books. Still, although there will be
plenty of smiles for the cameras, nobody is expecting Bush
and Schroeder to become political pals. "Expecting a warm
relationship is expecting too much. ..," said Smith. The
Berliner Zeitung newspaper also dismissed the idea of any
personal warming between both leaders by noting a White
House lunch was far lower on the Bush hospitality scale
than a visit to Camp David - let alone a trip to the family
ranch at Crawford, Texas. Schroeder meets Bush during a
two-day visit to the U.S. which includes stops in Chicago
and Jackson, Mississippi. The Chancellor begins his trip in
Chicago on February 26 where he will make a speech to the
Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Following the meeting
with Bush on February 27, Schroeder travels to Jackson
where he will open an exhibition of Baroque art from the
eastern German city of Dresden. The focus on economic and
cultural ties is not a coincidence, says Smith. While
German-American political relations may have gone through a
rough patch, economic and cultural ties remain very strong.
IRON LADY OF FRANCE PUTS CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
The Times, 24 Feb 04, by Adam Sage
The minister known for mucking in says that she will keep
running with plans for a European army, reports Adam Sage.
IN a large, ornate office in central Paris, the French
Defence Minister was searching for a word. "It's not
friendship," she said. "It's a real complicity.
Yes, a real complicity."
Michele Alliot-Marie was talking about Anglo-French
relations. At a ministerial level, they were "extremely
easy", she said in an interview with The Times, and soon
public opinion on both sides of the Channel would come to
realise how much we had in common.
After the tensions over the war in Iraq, this is a view
that may encounter a measure of scepticism, even hostility.
But that will not stop the woman nicknamed Marathon MAM
-because of her initials and her workrate -as she presses
the case for the development of European defence. A
forceful, upright figure, she has faced and overcome
hostility before. In 2002, for example, the French military
was appalled when President Chirac appointed the
centre-right Gaullist to be the country's first female
Defence Minister.
Within months, the troops had changed their minds and
decided that she was a distinct improvement on most of the
men who had preceded her.
They liked the way in which she spoke -in simple, clear
language and in tones that do not invite contradiction.
They also liked the way that she mucked in - parachute-
jumping and seeing in the new year with French units in
Kabul, where she chorused an old Gallic song that is
notably rude about the King of England.
"She has tamed an institution known for its misogyny," Le
Figaro said, while other newspapers cited her as a possible
prime minister in the second half of M Chirac's fiveyear
term of office.
The 57-year-old Mme Alliot-Marie faced a fresh challenge
when the French President led opposition to the conflict in
Iraq. More than most other ministers, she was exposed to
the wrath of the Americans and the irritation of the
British. Critics wondered how she would persuade either
country to back her attempts to foster a defence capacity
for the European Union. Yet French Defence Ministry policy
has survived the row more or less intact.
In fact, Mme Alliot-Marie said that the past year had seen
faster progress over European defence than at any time in
the past. In December, for instance, Britain, France and
Germany agreed to a joint planning and command cell that
will oversee EU military operations -a structure described
in the French press as a step towards a European army
headquarters. The three countries have also signalled their
intention to create small, 1,500-strong battle groups able
to be deployed within 15 days in regional conflicts.
This fits in with France's long-term aims. But does it suit
British interests? Will European Union defence undermine
Nato and drive a wedge between Europe and the United
States? Has Geoff Hoon, the Defence Minister, been pulled
into dangerous territory by his authoritative French
counterpart?
Mme Alliot-Marie said that such fears were unfounded.
"European defence is complementary to Nato and is in no way
a rival. Let's remember that for many years the Americans
have been asking Europe to do more to assure its own
defence." She said that despite differences over Iraq,
France was committed to the transatlantic alliance. "Each
time the US has been in grave difficulty, we have always
been by their side." She said that pragmatism rather than
ideology drove her policies.
Yet despite her claims of complicity, relations between
Britain and France are never entirely untroubled. The
daughter of France's first international rugby referee, Mme
Alliot-Marie has yet to digest the World Cup semi-final in
Australia and, as the interview ended, she was looking
forward to revenge at the Stade de France next month.
For England, it is a good job that she will be in the
stands, and not in the changing room to give the team talk.
If she were, woe betide any French player who missed a
tackle.
LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT COUNTERATTACKS
AFP, 24 Feb 04, by Arturas Racas
Embattled Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas went on the
counter attack on Tuesday, vowing to stand again in
presidential elections if impeached by parliament in a
corruption scandal.
"If the Seimas (parliament) dares raise a hand against the
president I am ready to take part in elections again and to
defend the president's institution," he told a news
conference just days after parliament set the wheels in
motion for impeaching him.
On Thursday, parliament voted by 62 to 11 with three
abstentions to ask the constitutional court to confirm the
conclusions of a panel which found that Paksas had abused
the constitution and said he was a threat to national
security.
The panel also said he had violated his oath of office,
leaked classified information, meddled with private
business, discredited public institutions and allowed his
aides to abuse their powers, but it did not bear out
reports that his office had links with criminal groups.
The scandal has rocked Lithuania, a former Soviet republic
which is due to join the European Union and NATO in May.
After the constitutional court gives its verdict,
parliament will decide whether or not to impeach Paksas. A
vote is not expected for several weeks, and at least 85
members of the 140-member assembly would have to vote in
favour to strip Paksas of his office.
But under the Lithuanian constitution he would have the
right to stand again in elections if he is thrown out.
Raimundas Lopata, the head of the Vilnius Institute for
International Relations and Political Sciences said it was
difficult to predict the outcome if he did so, but added:
"I think if elections were held today Paksas would not
win."
A new poll published by the RAIT research group showed that
while 50.5 percent of the 1,056 polled wanted Paksas to
resign, the number who thought he should stay on had
increased to 46 percent, support being widest in the
countryside, where Paksas has actively campaigned over past
weeks.
"During the meetings with the voters I saw that my election
programe meets their expectations and I am ready to
implement it further," Paksas told reporters.
Paksas also said that parliamentary speaker Arturas
Paulauskas, his main political rival who would stand in
temporarily as president, should himself be impeached on
grounds of "leaking state secrets, of classified
information and discrediting the authority of the Seimas."
Paulauskas said Paksas was trying "to clutch at a straw"
and that it was sad he was "trying to exert revenge and to
discredit the start of the impeachment".
Lithuania's parliament is currently in recess and due to
reconvene on March 5.
Paksas, a former stunt pilot, won an unexpected victory in
January 2003 over his predecessor Valdas Adamkus, a
77-year-old US emigre, who was supported by the majority of
Lithuania's political establishment.
Paksas, who was also twice prime minister and twice mayor
of Vilnius, has consistently denied any wrongdoing and
insisted he will not resign, despite calls to do so from
top political and church leaders.
BULGARIAN RIGHT SPLITS IN ROW OVER HOW TO STOP
EX-COMMUNISTS
AFP, 25 Feb 04
Bulgaria's political right split in parliament on Wednesday
in a row over how to stop the country's former communists
winning general elections in 2005.
The leader of the Union of Democratic Forces, former
foreign minister Nadejda Mikhailova, formed a new
parliamentary group with 13 MPs after former prime minister
Ivan Kostov and 26 other broke away from the party this
week.
They did so in protest at an appeal by Mikhailova that the
right and the ruling centre-right coalition of former child
king turned prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, join forces
to stop the ex-communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).
The BSP took a third of the vote in municipal elections
last year and have set their sights on a national comeback
in 2005.
Opinion polls show that they are the most popular party in
Bulgaria, where voters begrudge Saxe-Coburg his broken
promises of improving living standards within 800 days of
taking office.
Mikhailova and former president Petar Stoianov mooted an
election pact at a party conference Saturday, saying
Saxe-Coburg's coalition would ensure stability as the
country prepares to join NATO in April and seeks to join
the European Union in 2007.
Kostov accused them of "abandoning the interests of
Bulgarians" before leaving to form his own party.
He was prime minister from 1997 to 2001 when Saxe-Cobourg
stormed to power in national elections.
The prime minister's National Simeon II Movement governs in
coalition with the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and
Freedoms. They hold 128 seats out of 240 seats in
parliament, compared to the PSB's 48.
The UDF held 44 seats before the split.
Political analyst Miroslava Yanova said Wednesday that
unless the political right banded together it stood little
chance of keeping the former communists out of power in
2005.
Ex-communists are in power in other eastern European
countries, but Bulgaria's left is considered the most
consolidated in the region.
GERMAN FM EXPECTED IN BOSNIA TO DISCUSS ECONOMIC, EU ISSUES
AFP, 24 Feb 04
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was to travel to
Bosnia on Wednesday for talks on integrating the former
Yugoslav republic into European institutions and the
economy, officials said.
Fischer will meet Bosnian Prime Minister Adnan Terzic,
members of the country's collective presidency and the
international community's high representative, Paddy
Ashdown.
"The talks are to focus on economic relations," Bosnian
foreign ministry spokeswoman Miranda Sidran said.
A German foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin said the
focus of the talks would be on peace implementation and
Bosnia's "euro-Atlantic integration."
Fischer will also visit Germans serving with the European
Union police mission, which is tasked with training and
supervising Bosnian security forces.
The European Union is due to take over military
peacekeeping operations in Bosnia from the NATO-led
Stabilisation Force (SFOR), most likely by the end of this
year.
The Balkans is one of the areas that would chime perfectly
with the European Union's long-held ambitions of devloping
a military capability to deal with crises in its back yard
without having to rely on NATO muscle.
EU officials began talks in January with NATO on the size
of the force that could be deployed in Bosnia, as well as
on maintaining a smaller NATO presence there with the task
of searching for indicted war criminals.
Sarajevo has said it wants to join NATO's Partnership for
Peace programme, which offers former communist countries
privileged access to the alliance.
Bosnia was divided into two highly autonomous entities --
the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb-run Republika
Srpska -- under a peace agreement that ended the 1992-95
war.
GEORGIAN PRESIDENT RULES OUT MILITARY FORCE AGAINST
SECESSIONISTS
AFP, 24 Feb 04
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Tuesday vowed not
to use the military to unify his divided country as he
praised the United States' training of Georgian troops.
"I have no intention to intervene militarily anywhere in
Georgia," Saakashvili said in a speech at Johns Hopkins
University's international studies program. "I don't
believe in military solutions."
Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the Georgian
president said he would seek peaceful means to reunify his
country.
The United States will begin training 5,000 Georgian troops
in April, Saakashvili told Georgian television Tuesday,
according to Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency. The United
States launched the Train and Equip program in May 2002 for
thousands of Georgian troops.
"One of the major contributions by the United States is the
training" of Georgian troops, Saakashvili said at Johns
Hopkins University.
Creating a strong Georgian military "is the best thing we
can do for the region," he said, adding that Georgia, which
has sent troops to Iraq, will continue being a key ally in
the United States' "war on terror."
Georgia wants to join the NATO alliance and the European
Union.
Saakashvili is meeting with President George W. Bush
Wednesday, when they are expected to discuss terrorism and
energy issues. The United States backs the development of
an oil pipeline through the Caucasus country.
"Georgia has a special relationship with the United States
of America," said Saakashvili, who studied at New York's
Columbia University and worked in a New York law firm.
Saakashvili was elected in January with 97 percent of the
vote, two months after he led mass protests to oust Eduard
Shevardnadze, whose government was accused of rigging
parliamentary elections.
His peaceful movement to overthrow Shevardnadze was dubbed
the "rose revolution."
While he praised US relations with Georgia, Saakashvili
noted his efforts to improve relations with Russia, which
maintains military bases in Georgia.
"The door is open for new and more positive relations," he
said. "We are ready to meet half way with Russians on many
issues."
Relations will improve "as long as Russia remembers one
thing," he said. "We have our national sovereignty."
EU PRESSES FOR NEW ACCORD DESPITE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT'S
DISMISSAL
AFP, 25 Feb 04, by Jitendra Joshi
The European Commission said Wednesday it hoped to press
ahead with talks to renew a pivotal accord with Russia
despite the shock sacking by President Vladimir Putin of
his government.
The surprise move came a day after the European Union
warned Russia of a "serious impact" on ties if Moscow fails
to renew the bilateral partnership agreement before the EU
enlarges deep into eastern Europe in May.
Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said Putin's decision
Tuesday to sack prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and the
rest of his cabinet ahead of presidential elections on
March 14 was an internal matter.
But she added: "We remain hopeful that we can continue to
work with the new government in the quest for further
economic development, improving relations with the EU and
the international community."
Whatever the political manoeuvring in Moscow, renewal of
the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) "remains as
important as the day before yesterday", Udwin said.
"It is essential we discuss extension of the accord, which
is indispensable."
The EU is pressing Russia to automatically renew the PCA
before the bloc takes in 10 mainly eastern European states
on May 1.
But Russia has been dragging its feet, concerned notably
over the loss of preferential trade tariffs after its
former Soviet bloc partners join the EU.
The EU signed a PCA with Russia in December 1997, setting
out the political, economic and trade frameworks of its
relationship with the vast country for the next 10 years.
But the accord now needs to be adapted for the EU's
enlargement to encompass eight former Soviet satellites --
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- plus Cyprus and Malta.
In the wake of this week's warning by EU foreign ministers,
French President Jacques Chirac appeared to step out of
line on Tuesday by saying the bloc should show "more
respect" for Russia.
"We have seen in the recent past behaviour which was not
exactly what it should have been from the part of the EU
vis-a-vis Russia," Chirac said during a visit to Budapest.
The European Commission dismissed the apparent criticism.
"There is not a lack of respect in the bilateral relations
between the two parties," Udwin said. "There is vast
potential in the EU-Russia link and we shouldn't allow it
to underperform. Russia remains a very important partner
from our point of view."
Nevertheless, the EU is getting increasingly frustrated
with the Russian stance on renewing the PCA, which the bloc
says should be just a legal formality.
EU diplomats and observers in Moscow interpreted the
foreign ministers' warning of a "serious impact" on
relations as a veiled threat of trade sanctions.
The dispute comes as concern has grown in Brussels over
Russia's brutal war in breakaway Chechnya, the lack of
press freedom ahead of next month's elections, and Russian
foot-dragging on the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Russia, however, has proved adept at exploiting divisions
in the EU. The remarks by Chirac will not reassure critics
who say the EU has consistently failed to speak with a
common voice on its relations with the vast country.
The EU launched a review of its stance on Russia after the
embarrassment of the EU's previous presidency, held by
Italy, when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi flouted the
common EU line by defending Putin against criticism of
Moscow's campaign in Chechnya.
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