site.btaMarch 29, 2004: Bulgaria Becomes Full NATO Member

On March 29, 2004, Bulgaria became a full NATO member. Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was in Washington, DC, together with the government leaders of the other six countries joining NATO: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer attended the ceremony.

The National Assembly in Sofia ratified the North Atlantic Treaty on March 18, 2004.

Following is the coverage of the event by BTA's English-language service on March 29, 2004:

Bulgaria Becomes Full NATO Member

Washington D.C., March 29 (BTA) - Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha formally handed Monday to US State Secretary Colin Powell the ratification papers for Bulgaria's NATO accession, and Bulgaria became a full member of the Alliance. 
  
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is in Washington for the ceremony together with the government leaders of the other six acceding 
countries: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Also at the ceremony was NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

US State Secretary Colin Powell welcomed the Prime Ministers of the seven countries "to history's most successful Alliance".

Bulgaria's Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was the first to hand the ratification documents, to be followed by his counterparts from the other six countries in alphabetical order.

The ceremony was aired live by Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio.

The Prime Ministers will then be received by President George W. Bush in the White House.

The ceremony crowns Bulgaria's six-year efforts towards accession. After declaring its wish to join the Alliance in 1997, Bulgaria was officially invited to start accession talks in November 2002. In March 2003 the permanent representatives of  the member states in Brussels signed the accession protocol, and on March 18, 2004, the Bulgarian Parliament ratified the accession documents. 

Bulgaria is part of the fifth act of enlargement of the Alliance since its establishment in 1949 by 10 European countries, the 
United States and Canada. Turkey and Greece joined in 1952, the former West Germany in 1955, Spain in 1982 and Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary in 1999. 

The flags of the seven new member states will be flown at the NATO headquarters in Brussels at a ceremony on April 2, and this day has been designated a national holiday in Bulgaria.