Countries Find EU Membership Good as Being in NATO

Kralev, Nickolai, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

For countries denied membership in NATO at the Madrid summit this month, the prospect of joining the European Union offers an attractive alternative.

But while as many as half-a-dozen states could be added to the EU, the process may take as long as a decade. The interval between initial talks and actual acceptance to the union will be quite long.

NATO's goal is to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1999 by admitting Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the three countries invited at the meeting in early July to begin filling out membership applications.

The EU's "Agenda 2000" talks of an "enlarged union by 2006."

Leaders of both NATO and …

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Publication information: Article title: Countries Find EU Membership Good as Being in NATO. Contributors: Kralev, Nickolai - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: July 31, 1997. Page number: 11. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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