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France sets date on Nato decision France sets date on Nato decision
(20 minutes later)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will decide by the end of the year on France's return to Nato's military command, which it left 40 years ago.French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will decide by the end of the year on France's return to Nato's military command, which it left 40 years ago.
Mr Sarkozy told a Nato summit that he expected to take the decision at the end of France's six-month presidency of the EU in the second half of the year. He told a Nato summit the ruling would come at the end of France's six-month EU presidency later this year.
France withdrew from Nato's military structure in 1966 in protest at the dominance of US commanders.France withdrew from Nato's military structure in 1966 in protest at the dominance of US commanders.
It plays a political role but is not part of command formations. The summit will discuss links with Georgia and Ukraine after Nato said it would not offer them membership.
France and Germany had opposed US calls for the two former Soviet republics to be allowed to join the alliance.
At the summit in Bucharest, Romania, Mr Sarkozy said: "I reaffirm here France's determination to pursue the process of renovating its relations with Nato.
"At the end of the French [EU] presidency the moment will have come to conclude this process and to take the necessary decisions for France to take its full place in Nato's structures."