Macedonia NATO delay would fuel radicals: Albania

By David Brunnstrom

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A delay in inviting Macedonia to join NATO could encourage radicals and fuel instability in the Balkans, Albania's prime minister said, urging compromise to allow a last-minute deal at an alliance summit on Wednesday.

Greece stood by its threat on Wednesday to veto NATO membership for ethnically mixed Macedonia despite pressure from U.S. President George W. Bush to resolve a name dispute.

NATO was due to consider Macedonia's membership invitation along with that of Adriatic neighbors Croatia and Albania at a NATO summit dinner in Bucharest on Wednesday night.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha told Reuters he was "very confident" Albania would get an invitation and hoped a compromise could be reached between Greece and Macedonia.

He said a delay for Macedonia would be "a very serious problem" for the whole Balkans region.

"The stability of this neighbor is very crucial for Albania, for Kosovo, for Greece, to Bulgaria, to all its neighbors," he said in an interview.

"My fear is that radicals from all ethnicities there (in Macedonia) could be strengthened," he said. "Both sides have to compromise. I am convinced both countries have some reason to compromise. I hope that they will find a compromise."

Athens has said it will prevent Skopje joining unless it changes its constitutional name, which is the same as Greece's northernmost province, birthplace of Alexander the Great.