All 329 parliamentarians voted late Monday in favour of Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a rare case of consensus in the legislature.

"It is with pleasure that we can say that of the seven new members, three are neighbours of Hungary," said Andras Barsony, senior foreign ministry official.

Hungary joined NATO in 1999, along with Poland and the Czech Republic, in the alliance's first wave of enlargement that saw it take in the former members of the Warsaw Pact.

NATO wrapped up its November 2002 summit in Prague by formally inviting the seven states to join, most likely at the alliance's 2004 summit.

WAR.WIRE