[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 892 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 892
Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the remarkable events leading to
the end of the Cold War and the creation of a Europe, whole, free, and
at peace.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 5, 2009
Mr. Berman (for himself, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. Berkley, Mr.
Costa, Ms. Kaptur, and Mr. Lipinski) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the remarkable events leading to
the end of the Cold War and the creation of a Europe, whole, free, and
at peace.
Whereas the year 1989 witnessed a series of remarkable events in Europe that
helped lead to the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the creation
of a Europe whole, free, and at peace;
Whereas, on February 6, 1989, after almost 10 years of unarmed struggle, the
Polish free trade union Solidarity finally succeeded in forcing the
Government of Poland to begin talks on broad political and economic
change;
Whereas, on April 6, 1989, Solidarity was legalized, enabling it to contest
elections for 35 percent of the seats in the Sejm and all the seats in
the Senat, resulting in the historic election victory for Solidarity on
June 4 in which Solidarity won all the seats available to it in the Sejm
and 99 out of 100 seats in the Senat, leading to the installation of the
first non-Communist government since January 1945;
Whereas, on May 2, 1989, the Hungarian government began dismantling the barbed
wire fence separating Hungary in the Soviet-controlled East from Austria
in the free West, causing a ``tear in the Iron Curtain'' that was never
to be closed again;
Whereas, following the exodus of several hundred East Germans from Hungary
between May and mid-July 1989, the Hungarian government announced on
September 10, that as of midnight, the border to the West would be open
for all East Germans wishing to leave, leading to the departure of
thousands of East Germans and representing the first break in the Warsaw
Pact policy of preventing each other's citizens from fleeing to the
West;
Whereas, on August 23, 1989, 2,000,000 people living in the Baltic states of
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania linked hands to form a human chain almost
400 miles long in a peaceful protest of Soviet rule and in order to
demand the restoration of independent statehood;
Whereas, on November 9, 1989, in response to protests that had grown to include
over a million people in Berlin's Alexanderplatz, now referred to as the
``Peaceful Revolution'', Gunter Schabowski, the communist East German
Minister of Propaganda, announced that the border would be opened for
``private trips abroad'';
Whereas, on November 9, 1989, thousands of East Germans streamed into West
Berlin, following the opening of checkpoints between the two halves of
the divided city and resulting in the days that followed in one of the
most momentous events of the 20th century, the tearing down of the
Berlin Wall;
Whereas, on November 24, 1989, months of protests by pro-democracy forces in
Czechoslovakia led by visionary leader Vaclav Havel resulted in the
culmination of the ``Velvet Revolution'' and the en masse resignation of
the entire Czechoslovak ruling Politburo, followed by the resignation of
President Gustav Husak on December 10, and a new democratic beginning
with the election of President Havel on December 29;
Whereas in November 1989, the first-known post-war public protests in Bulgaria
organized by civil rights groups led to the ouster and resignation of
Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov after 34 years in power, and the
first free elections since 1946 in Bulgaria the following June;
Whereas, on December 17, 1989, in the town of Timisoara, Romania, citizens
protesting against the arrest of a local priest were brutally killed by
Romanian security forces under orders of President Ceausescu, causing
international outrage and condemnation, and leading to mass protests and
escalating violence throughout the country, resulting at the end of the
year in the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime and his execution;
Whereas the events of 1989 prove that the will and the desire of millions of
people for freedom cannot be forever repressed and that the actions of a
few courageous leaders can inspire millions of others to join the
inexorable struggle to be free;
Whereas in the past 20 years, most of the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe have become stable, prosperous, and vibrant democracies, with
many becoming members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
and the European Union (EU);
Whereas in the past 20 years, the prospect of membership in NATO and the EU has
been a major stabilizing force and has helped promote greater peace and
prosperity within Europe; and
Whereas there is still much work that needs to be done to overcome the remaining
challenges within Europe and to create a Europe whole, free, and at
peace: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the events of 1989 that helped lead to the
end of the Cold War;
(2) congratulates the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe who have made great progress in the past 20 years and
emerged as strong, vibrant democracies;
(3) expresses strong support and friendship for the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and reaffirms its
commitment to the solemn obligations set forth in article 5 of
the North Atlantic Treaty;
(4) welcomes the commitment by the European Union (EU) and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to keep the door
to membership open for all European countries which meet the
conditions for accession; and
(5) supports the continued efforts to create a Europe
whole, free and at peace.
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