U.S. President George W. Bush declared today that efforts must be made in order for Ukraine and Georgia to become NATO members and also that the U.S. fully supports them. Not sharing this point of view are Germany and France but also Russia, which has brought the most vehement objections of all. The main concern refers to the possible alteration of the balance of power caused by the growth of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

"So my country's position is clear: NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan. And NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it, and are ready to share in the responsibilities of NATO membership," Bush said in a pre-summit speech in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, according to the Associated Press.

On other topics, Bush made a call to all summit participants to contribute to actions in Afghanistan, underlining the fact that the terrorist and war threat is real and that it needs constant attention in order to be properly supervised and taken care of. Bush specified the states that have sent additional troops – the United States, France and Romania, and asked all members present to help in a similar manner.

He also mentioned the Taliban, Al-Qaida extremists and Osama’s audio recording.

"Just two weeks ago, Osama bin Laden issued an audio recording in which he threatened Europe with new attacks. We need to take the words of the enemy seriously. The terrorist threat is real, it is deadly, and defeating this enemy must be the top priority of the NATO alliance,” Bush declared as quoted by the AP.

The discussions on Afghanistan are scheduled for tomorrow, April 3.