(Adds Merkel, Brown, Harper, detentions)
By Mark John and Paul Taylor
BUCHAREST, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush
set the stage for a clash at his final NATO summit on Wednesday
by pressing reluctant west European allies to set former Soviet
republics Georgia and Ukraine on a path to membership.
He also urged other allies to follow the example of France,
Poland and host nation Romania in providing extra troops for
NATO's battle against Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan.
"We expect our NATO allies to shoulder the burden necessary
to succeed," Bush said after talks with Romanian President
Traian Basescu before leaders of the 26-nation defence alliance
were to open a three-day summit.
He said the West should reward democratic revolutions in
Ukraine and Georgia by giving both countries the prospect of
joining NATO, although Russia has opposed this.
"My country's position is clear -- NATO should welcome
Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan," he said,
referring to a programme which is a gateway to membership.
France and Germany, backed by several smaller countries,
have said Ukraine and Georgia do not meet NATO's criteria and
the decision would be an unnecessary provocation to Moscow just
before President-elect Dmitry Medvedev takes office.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed on arriving in
Bucharest that both countries should have a long-term prospect
of NATO membership, "but there is one difference with the United
States: we believe the time for MAP is not ripe".
At stake is whether NATO pushes its European borders right
up to the frontiers of Russia, with the exception of Belarus, or
leaves a strategic buffer zone as the Kremlin wishes.
VAGUE
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer left the scope,
timing and nature of planned expansion vague in a speech to
youth leaders from alliance countries.
"I expect the summit will open NATO's doors to several new
members from southeast Europe," he said, adding the alliance
would also strengthen ties with other states in the Balkans and
the Euro-Atlantic area, including Ukraine and Georgia.
Bush sought to soothe Russian anger over what Moscow sees as
NATO's attempt to encroach on its sphere of influence, saying
the Cold War was over and Russia was not the West's enemy.
Looking ahead to a weekend summit with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, Bush said there could be an unprecedented level
of strategic cooperation on missile defence and arms control.
To a journalist who said that farewell meeting was headed
for a "diplomatic train wreck", the president said: "You call it
a diplomatic train wreck ... and i call it an opportunity." The
White House later said Bush would also meet Medvedev in Sochi.
Amid blanket security that shut down much of central
Bucharest, police broke into a factory in Bucharest that has
been rented by a group of anti-NATO protesters and took away 46
suspected activists for identity checks.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pleaded on arrival for
fairer "burden sharing" among allies in Afghanistan, where
British troops have suffered heavy casualties in fighting the
Taliban in the south. Many European allies have restricted their
troops to quieter areas in the north and west.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose soldiers have
also had heavy losses in the southeast, said he was "very
confident" NATO would receive sufficient pledges of extra forces
for him to withdraw a threat to pull Canadian forces out.
"LIMIT OF THE MANAGEABLE"
NATO summits are usually carefully choreographed to showcase
pre-cooked agreements but the main enlargement decisions this
time are to be agreed at an opening dinner, when Bush meets the
French, German and other leaders.
Since decisions require unanimity, Washington will probably
have to settle for a pledge of closer cooperation with Ukraine
and Georgia and a commitment to review the issue at next year's
60th anniversary summit.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was quoted
by a German newspaper as saying NATO should not strain ties with
Moscow beyond "the limit of the manageable".
A senior German diplomat, Wolfgang Ischinger, also rejected
accusations by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili that
Berlin's attitude was tantamount to appeasement of the Kremlin.
Another uncertain decision facing the leaders was over
Macedonia's candidacy for NATO membership. Greece has threatened
to veto Skopje's entry over an unresolved dispute about the
former Yugoslav republic's name.
Bush made clear Washington wanted Macedonia, along with
Croatia and Albania, to be invited to join this week. But Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni said in Athens there was no time
for a last-minute compromise. "We have said that no solution
means no invitation," she told reporters.
Merkel sounded gloomy on Macedonia's hopes, saying: "It's
going to be very difficult. We'll do everything up to the last
minute to overcome this dispute."
Diplomats said if Athens did not yield, leaders might try to
issue a conditional invitation to Skopje, to be ratified once
the name dispute was settled.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Matt Spetalnick,
Justyna Pawlak, David Brunnstrom and Randall Palmer in Bucharest
and Francois Murphy in Paris; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
