[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 7--RELATIVE TO THE FORMER YUGOSLAV 
                         REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

  Ms. SNOWE submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Con. Res.

       Whereas the United States has strong and enduring economic, 
     political, and strategic ties with the Hellenic Republic of 
     Greece;
       Whereas Greece has been a strategic ally of the United 
     States in the Eastern Mediterranean during every major 
     conflict in this century;
       Whereas historical and archaeological evidence demonstrates 
     that the ancient Macedonians were Greek;
       Whereas Macedonia is a Greek name that has designated the 
     northern area of Greece for over 2,000 years;
       Whereas in 1944, the United States opposed the changing of 
     the name of the Skopje region of Yugoslavia by Marshall Tito 
     from Vardar Banovina to Macedonia as part of a campaign to 
     gain control of the Greek province of Macedonia, and the 
     major port city of Salonika;
       Whereas the regime in Skopje has persisted in inflaming 
     tensions between it and Greece through a sustained propaganda 
     campaign and the continued use of an ancient Greek symbol, 
     the Star of Vergina, in its flag;
       Whereas the Skopje regime has refused to remove paragraph 
     49 from its constitution, a reference to the 1944 declaration 
     by the then communist regime calling for the ``unification'' 
     of neighboring territories in Greece and Bulgaria with the 
     ``Macedonian Republic'';
       Whereas Greece has no claim on the territory of the former 
     Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and has repeatedly reaffirmed 
     the inviolability of all borders in the area of the 2 
     countries; and
       Whereas it is in the best interest of the United States to 
     oppose any expansionist or irredentist policies in order to 
     promote peace and stability in the area: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the President should not have extended diplomatic 
     recognition to the Skopje regime that insists on using the 
     Greek name of Macedonia; and
       (2) the President should reconsider this decision and 
     withdraw diplomatic recognition until such time as the Skopje 
     regime renounces its use of the name Macedonia, removes 
     objectionable language in paragraph 49 of its constitution, 
     removes symbols which imply territorial expansion such as the 
     Star of Vergina in its flag, ceases propaganda against 
     Greece, and adheres fully to Conference on Security and 
     Cooperation in Europe norms and principles.
     

                          ____________________