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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| France sets date on Nato decision | France sets date on Nato decision |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| President Nicolas Sarkozy says France will make a decision on Nato by the end of the year, indicating it will return to the organisation's military command. | President Nicolas Sarkozy says France will make a decision on Nato by the end of the year, indicating it will return to the organisation's military command. |
| He told a Nato summit the move 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. |
| The summit will discuss links with Georgia and Ukraine after Nato said it would not offer them membership. | 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. | France and Germany had opposed US calls for the two former Soviet republics to be allowed to join the alliance. |
| Afghan battalion | Afghan battalion |
| 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 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." | "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." |
| France's presidency of the EU ends on 31 December this year. | |
| Analysts say France's return to Nato could be formally announced at the alliance's next summit in April 2009 - more than four decades since Gen Charles de Gaulle withdrew. | |
| Mr Sarkozy also confirmed on Thursday that France would send a battalion - about 800 troops - to join the Nato mission in Afghanistan. | |
| The US said the pledge would free up some of its troops to bolster Canadian forces in the south. | |
| Canada had threatened to withdraw its contingent in Kandahar province unless other Nato countries sent reinforcements. | |
| On Thursday, Mr Bush and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown are expected to urge more members of the military alliance to commit troops or extra resources to the battle against the Taleban. |