Although the NATO Summit in Chicago respected the decision made at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest and did not include a discussion about integrating FYROM into the alliance until the issue of the Republic's name is defined with Greece, three prominent US politicians apparently rallied in favor of FYROM and nonetheless attempted to reverse this decision.
In a letter to US President Barack Obama, former Ministers of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen and former Defense secretary and adviser to Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger said that FYROM qualified for NATO integration since it has participated in missions of the Alliance.
"Today, NATO is at a crossroads. While NATO members reduce defense spending, new candidate countries of Southeast Europe can provide necessary facilities and manpower for the Alliance", said the letter.
They pointed out that stability can not be guaranteed in a region which since the 1990s suffered conflicts. Even though the three politicians knew that the alliance was not going to open the subject of FYROM, they nonetheless tried to persuade the alliance to at least show interest in the countries that want to join.
The letter stressed that FYROM meets all the requirements for NATO membership, while Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Georgia should be encouraged to continue with the difficult reforms that are required for the enlargement process.
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