All of the countries except Croatia are members of NATO's membership action plan, or MAP, giving them official recognition as candidates. Croatia is not formally a member of MAP but has expressed strong interest in NATO membership and has made progress toward that aim since democratic elections were held more than a year ago. NATO is expected to announce plans for a second wave of expansion at a summit next year in Prague. In 1999 Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary become members of NATO in a first wave of eastward expansion that brought the total number of members to 19. The alliance has not said which countries, if any, will receive invitations but has declared that its doors are open and that candidates will be assessed according to their abilities to meet NATO standards.
Many analysts give Slovenia and Slovakia the best chances of receiving invitations next year.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek was visibly confident yesterday that his country would receive an invitation at the Prague summit. We are doing quite well, I think. Moscow has said expansion to the Baltic countries, all former Soviet republics, would bring the alliance unacceptably close to its borders. Earlier, in a letter read aloud to the conference, U.S. President George W. Bush also implicitly reassured the Baltics that they would not be passed over for NATO membership on the basis of their past. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins told participants that he believes NATO expansion to the Baltics does not represent a threat to Moscow.