NATO MEMBERSHIP

That this House notes the 60th anniversary of the founding of NATO which takes place in April 2009; believes that the anniversary of this nuclear-armed alliance provides the opportunity to reconsider the organisation's role in the world, particularly given the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact; welcomes the recent statement of 7 February 2009 by US Vice-President Joe Biden that the White House wants to press the reset button on US relations with Russia; therefore regrets the statements of support for Georgian and Ukranian membership of NATO made during the summer of 2008 by the US and UK governments; believes that a further expansion of NATO can only worsen relations with Russia; and therefore calls on the Government not to support the issuing of membership action plans to Georgia, Ukraine and other new states.