SKOPJE (AFP)--Macedonia argued Tuesday that risks linked to the looming independence of neighboring Kosovo mean it should be given NATO membership at a summit of the alliance later this year. 

In a letter, President Branko Crvenkovski asked NATO's 26 member countries to "fully support Macedonian membership in NATO" at the April summit in Bucharest, his cabinet said in a statement. 

"The reasons are known. The process of defining Kosovo's status is underway and in its final phase, a process that has risks which should not be underestimated," Crvenkovski was quoted as saying in a statement. 

"As Serbia's and Kosovo's neighbor, Macedonia will be among the first to feel both the positive and negative impact of the risk caused by the definition of Kosovo's future status," he said. 

Leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority say they will make a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia shortly. 

Along with Albania and Croatia, Macedonia, which itself has a large ethnic Albanian population, expects to be invited to join NATO at a later date. 

However, Greece, which has been in dispute with Skopje over the name Macedonia for more than 15 years, is threatening to bloc Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership, if the dispute isn't resolved.