Euro-Atlantic integration of the Baltic states in the political discourse of Germany

The article analyzes the positions of the various political forces in the Federal Republic of Germany on the accession of the Baltic states into the EU and NATO. In 1990s Germany was quite restrained the desire of the Baltic states to integrate into European structures, but in the early 2000s in connection with the new foreign policy situation in Germany emerged a certain interest in the expansion of the EU and NATO. The US drive to force the expansion of NATO to the east triggered a desire of Berlin to prevent excessive strengthening of the transatlantic partner in the region and synchronize the process of integration of the Baltic states into NATO with their integration into the EU. Fractions of German Bundestag parties began to discuss the «Baltic direction» of foreign policy; German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for the first time visited the Baltic states. Finally, in April 2002 the Bundestag decided to support the entry of the Baltic States into the EU and NATO, what happened in 2004.