[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6152-S6153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______


                        DEMOCRACY IN THE BALKANS

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, on May 9, 1996, Dr. John 
Brademas, Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy [NED], 
delivered a very thoughtful address to a conference on ``The Greek-U.S. 
Relationship and the Future of Southeastern Europe,'' organized by the 
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis. I was fortunate to be able to 
attend a portion of that conference, at which some very important and 
difficult issues were discussed relating to the future of democracy in 
the Balkans. As my colleagues know, the National Endowment for 
Democracy is our Nation's premier institution for assisting in the 
transition from closed, authoritarian, and totalitarian systems to free 
and open systems of elected and accountable government around the 
world.
  Dr. Brademas, a longtime friend and former colleague, is one of the 
Nation's most highly regarded experts on the promotion and expansion of 
democracy, as well as a longtime observer and analyst of development in 
Southern Europe. His proposal for a Center for Democracy in the Balkans 
is therefore worthy of special note, and I commend his remarks to my 
colleagues. I ask that his remarks be printed in the Record.
  The remarks follow:

                      Remarks of Dr. John Brademas

       I am for several reasons pleased to have been invited to 
     Washington, D.C. to take part in this conference on U.S.-
     Greek relations and the future of Southeastern Europe. And I 
     should like to salute the Institute for Foreign Policy 
     Analysis, the Constantinos Karamanlis Foundation, the 
     International Security Studies Program of the Fletcher School 
     of Law and Diplomacy and the Lilian Voudoris Foundation for 
     having brought together so many outstanding authorities on 
     the subject.
       That the distinguished President of the Hellenic Republic, 
     His Excellency Constantinos Stephanopoulos, as well as 
     Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and Education Minister 
     George Papandreou and other prominent leaders from both 
     Greece and the United States should be participating in these 
     discussions is a mark of their great importance.
       And that both President Clinton's meeting with President 
     Stephanopoulos and this conference come only one month 
     following the visit here of Prime Minister Costas Simitis is 
     but further indication of the close ties between our two 
     countries.
       Another reason I am glad to have been asked to join you is 
     that, as most of you know, I am a child of both Greece and 
     the United States. My father was born in Kalamata and my 
     mother in Indiana.
       As the first native-born American of Greek origin elected 
     to the Congress of the United States, where I served for 
     twenty-two years, I naturally had a particular interest in 
     issues concerning Greece. But it was an interest deeply 
     rooted in my commitment to the principles of the 
     Constitution of the United States. For example, I was 
     openly and strongly critical of the military junta of 1967 
     to 1974, and I opposed US military aid to Greece during 
     that period. And, 22 years ago this summer, in company 
     with my valued friend, now the distinguished senior 
     Senator from Maryland, Paul S. Sarbanes, and others, I was 
     deeply engaged in the struggle between Congress and the 
     White House following the unlawful use by Turkey of 
     American weapons to invade and occupy the independent 
     Republic of Cyprus. The failure of the executive branch of 
     the US government of respect the Constitution and the rule 
     of law contributed to the bitter legacy that, we all know, 
     is with us still.

[[Page S6153]]

                  The National Endowment for Democracy

       I must cite one more reason I'm pleased to be with you and 
     that is to speak in my capacity as Chairman of the National 
     Endowment for Democracy. For one of the most important bonds 
     between Greeks and Americans is that we have the good fortune 
     to be citizens of lively democracies.
       Indeed, it is about our common commitment to the 
     institutions and practices of democracy, of self-government, 
     that I want to offer some brief comments this afternoon.
       For I believe that we in the American and Greek 
     democracies--and the European democracies in general--have an 
     obligation--this is not only a moral question but it is in 
     our respective national interests--to promote free, open and 
     democratic societies.
       Let me tell you a little about the National Endowment for 
     Democracy, or NED, because it relates directly to my talk.
       Founded in 1983 by Act of Congress, the National Endowment 
     for Democracy is a nonpartisan, non-governmental organization 
     that champions, through grants to private entities in other 
     countries, the institutions of democracy. NED grants are made 
     to organizations dedicated to promoting the rule of law, free 
     and fair elections, a free press, human rights and the other 
     components of a genuinely democratic culture.
       I must add that a time when the political atmosphere in 
     Washington is even more partisan than usual, NED is unique in 
     enjoying strong support across party and ideological lines.


                   Promoting Democracy in the Balkans

       As all of us here are profoundly concerned about 
     developments in the Balkans, let me report to you on efforts 
     of the National Endowment for Democracy to address some of 
     the obstacles to democratization in that region. Albeit with 
     modest funds, NED has supported programs to encourage the 
     resolution of inter-ethnic conflict, greater political 
     pluralism and economic reform as well as to strengthen the 
     independent organizations necessary to form the basis of 
     civil society in the area.
       For example, in Albania, NED is assisting a project of the 
     American Federation of Teachers and the Albanian Teachers' 
     Union to conduct ``Introduction to Teaching Democracy'' 
     workshops.
       In Bulgaria, NED sponsors the Bulgarian Association for 
     Fair Elections (BAFE), a network of community centers to 
     stimulate civic participation at the local level.
       In Romania, NED has helped the League for Europe, which 
     presses for better relations between Romanians and Hungarians 
     in Transylvania.
       The Endowment also supports several media outlets that 
     produce impartial news on developments in the former 
     Yugoslavia. Only a few weeks ago, our board approved grants 
     to five independent media operations in Serbia/Montenegro 
     (FRY).
       Now who can deny that the challenges to building democracy 
     in this part of the world, especially in the areas ravaged by 
     war, are immense, indeed, daunting? But, in my view, the 
     enormity of the challenge is all the more reason for us to 
     act.
       Certainly, it seems to me, the encouragement of free, open, 
     stable and democratic societies throughout the Balkans must 
     be of direct interest to the people of Greece. Not only would 
     such developments contribute to Greek national security but 
     to the Greek economy, too. I've already discussed with Greek 
     business leaders the opportunities they see for expanding 
     their markets in the region as well as enhancing the climate 
     for foreign investment in Greece. In fact, even today Greek 
     investments in banking and other private sector activities in 
     the Balkans and throughout Southeastern Europe generate 
     economic growth and ties that can, spur the democratic 
     process. Remember, too, a consideration important to American 
     policymakers, that Greece is the only country in the region 
     that is a member of the European Union, Council of Europe and 
     NATO.


                 a center for democracy in the balkans

       In my judgment, we should now take advantage of, on the one 
     hand, the recent accords between Athens and Skopje and, on 
     the other, the Dayton agreements on Bosnia, to consider 
     seriously the establishment of a center to encourage 
     democracy in the Balkans.
       My own view is that an appropriate location for such a 
     center is Greece.
       I note first that Greece is the birthplace of democracy and 
     a thriving democracy still.
       Second, Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, at the crossroads 
     of the South Balkans, is a natural site for a forum devoted 
     to matters affecting the region. Thessaloniki is a multi-
     cultural, cosmopolitan city, named, as we know, by the 
     European Union as the 1997 ``Cultural Capital of Europe.''
       Indeed, only a few weeks ago, I took part in a conference 
     in Thessloniki sponsored by a recently established 
     Association for Democracy in the Balkans. Scholars from nine 
     Balkan countries made presentations on political 
     institutions, on civil society in general and nongovernmental 
     organizations in particular as well as on the role of the 
     media in each country. By all accounts, the conference was a 
     success.


                   a genuinely multi-national center

       I believe it particularly important to note there that 
     their participants in the Thessaloniki meeting made clear 
     that a center to promote democracy should not be a Creek 
     enterprise but one genuinely multi-national in nature.
       If the seed for such a multi-national center has been 
     planted in Thessaloniki, I'm glad to tell you of some steps 
     to follow up those discussions.
       In two weeks, there will be another conference on democracy 
     in the Balkans, to be held in New York City, under the 
     auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy and the 
     American Ditchley Foundation. We shall convene a group of 
     scholars, diplomats, journalists and others to discuss the 
     concept, the obstacles, the opportunities and the practical 
     steps needed to establish a center to encourage democracy in 
     the region. Former Assistant Secretary of State Richard 
     Holbrooke will address the conference, which I shall chair, 
     as will Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Chairman of the 
     International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of 
     Representatives, and Senator Paul Sarbanes, a senior member 
     of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
       Here let me express appreciation to both Congressman Gilman 
     and Senator Sarbanes for their continuing contributions to 
     strengthening relations between Greece and the United States 
     and pay tribute as well to another outstanding legislator who 
     shares that commitment, Congressman Lee Hamilton, senior 
     Democrat on the House committee, who addressed you earlier 
     today.
       Among others to take part in the New York City conference 
     this month are President Clinton's Special Envoy on the 
     Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Matthew Nimetz, and 
     U.S. Ambassador-designate to FYROM, Christopher Hill.
       Then in June, at Ditchley Park, outside Oxford, the 
     American and British Ditchley Foundations will sponsor 
     another conference, which I'll also chair, with essentially 
     the same purpose except that participants will be drawn 
     chiefly from Europe.
       A few weeks ago, as you all know, the First Lady of the 
     United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her first visit to 
     Greece, said of Athens that it was the city that had ``given 
     the world its greatest gift--the gift of democracy.''
       Let me then voice the hope that the peoples of the United 
     States and Greece can work together--and with others--to 
     encourage in the too-long troubled region of the Balkans the 
     institutions and practices of self-government, ``the gift of 
     democracy.''

                          ____________________