and when to incorporate the new states of Eastern Europe into the evolving security order. Initially, France and Germany backed making the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) a pan-European security system, an eventual NATO replacement or at least a link to the United States and Canada that would forge a European "peace system." In parallel, the European Community focused on the immediate problems of economic assistance, and the United States, with its deficit woes, readily ceded that role to Europe. It gave CSCE only minor support and insisted that the restructuring not compromise NATO's role. The CSCE is comprised of more than 50 states, including all the former Soviet republics. Its achievements, so far, have been limited, though it may expand its role in dispute resolution and conflict prevention.
Western diplomats in Europe are currently not in favor of granting NATO member
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