U.S. Senate committee backs three NATO bids

Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic have made the most progress toward NATO membership, members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on July 10, Magyar Hirlap reported. They told visiting Hungarian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Istvan Szentiványi that the three countries could be entitled to $60 million in military aid; the Senate has yet to approve that package. Szentiványi also conferred with Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott on NATO expansion. Talbott said Hungary's hopes of joining NATO by 1999 are "realistic." Szentiványi said he got the impression Slovenia could be next on the U.S.'s NATO list.