Victory means first and foremost security. Only the consolidation of NATO's Southern flank, through the soonest extension of an invitation for Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria to become full members of the Alliance, can assure it in the long term. It is safer for NATO, and safer for the whole region, to have the Alliance firmly implanted in the region. For our countries, which assumed the same risks of any member state, without the guarantees and benefits of actual membership, a deadline after 2002 seems an unfair and remote prospective.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Victory means first and foremost security. Only the consolidation of NATO's Southern flank, through the soonest extension of an invitation for Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria to become full members of the Alliance, can assure it in the long term. It is safer for NATO, and safer for the whole region, to have the Alliance firmly implanted in the region. For our countries, which assumed the same risks of any member state, without the guarantees and benefits of actual membership, a deadline after 2002 seems an unfair and remote prospective." in the context of ""Romania's proposal for the reconstruction of the South-East" (26 May 1999)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.