(Adds start of summit, Ukraine's Tarasyuk)
By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick
BUCHAREST, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush
went into his final NATO summit on Wednesday urging his European
allies to send more troops to Afghanistan and to set two former
Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, on a path to membership.
He pressed members of the 26-nation alliance to follow the
example of France, Poland and Romania in providing extra troops
for NATO's battle against Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan,
even though uncertainty reigned over what France would offer.
He faced resistance, led by Germany and France, to offering
Ukraine and Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP) -- a gateway
to NATO membership opposed by their former Soviet master Moscow.
"We expect our NATO allies to shoulder the burden necessary
to succeed," Bush said of the Afghan mission after talks with
Romanian President Traian Basescu, who is hosting the summit.
Bush said the West should reward democratic revolutions in
Ukraine and Georgia by giving both the prospect of joining NATO.
"My country's position is clear -- NATO should welcome
Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan," he said.
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 Russia 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".
Borys Tarasyuk, a former foreign minister in Ukraine, saw
problems ahead.
"I didn't say I was confident Ukraine will be provided with
MAP. There are serious obstacles in the way," he told Reuters.
"It may provide a kind of compromise result," Tarasyuk said
of a first late-night session of talks in the Romanian capital.
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.
But diplomats said it was still unclear what French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last month indicated France was
ready to raise its troop levels, would offer at the summit.
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; Writing by Paul Taylor and Mark
John; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
