( dpa ) - NATO's foreign ministers were meeting Thursday to discuss whether to invite Albania, Croatia and Macedonia into the alliance.
The meeting in Brussels was taking place just hours after thousands of protesters gathered in Greece's northern port city of Thessaloniki carrying banners reading "The name Macedonia is ours."
The issue of Macedonia's name is the biggest obstacle to the country's NATO aspirations.
Greece, which joined NATO in 1952, has threatened to veto Macedonia's membership bid over the use of the name, which it objects to on the grounds that it could imply claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia.
"If there is no agreement (on the name issue), we will not be able to take a decision on Macedonia because of the lack of Greek consent," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said upon his arrival in Brussels.
Ministers said they would also discuss the membership aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine, which are both engaged in NATO's Intensified Dialogue programme, as well as the alliance's operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
"I think one of the key feature of today's discussion is going to be the long-term commitment that all of the countries here are making to Afghanistan," Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband said.
Though officials note that this is not a force generation meeting, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to repeat US calls for allies to send more troops to Afghanistan.
The US is backed by Canada, which has threatened to pull its 2,500 troops out of the dangerous Kandahar region unless other NATO members send substantial reinforcements.
Thursday's meeting prepares the groundwork for the alliance's annual summit, which is due to take place in Bucharest on April 2-4.