[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EUROPEAN SECURITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about a 
very important issue and that is NATO. On April 4, 1949, the United 
Nations, Canada and 10 European governments signed the North Atlantic 
Treaty creating NATO. It was established to deter potential Soviet 
aggression in Europe and provide for the collective self-defense of the 
alliance.
  Since then, NATO has reshaped its military strategy fundamentally in 
the wake of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, the 
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and the massive cuts in U.S. short-
range nuclear forces towards power projection with more mobile forces 
and away from an armored positional force in Central Europe.
  During the December 1994 NATO summit, the U.S. expressed its interest 
in expanding NATO in order to, one, strengthen nations that share our 
U.S. belief in democracy; two, continue the development of free market 
economies open to U.S. investment and trade; and, three, secure allies 
willing to share in cooperative efforts on a range of global issues; 
and finally, four, preserve a Europe free from domination by any single 
power.
  I believe that the enlargement of NATO will enhance stability by 
providing NATO's security guarantee for candidate states working to 
construct viable democracies and free market systems, Mr. Speaker. I 
call for my colleagues tomorrow to support the European Security Act, 
which will help to expand NATO. H.R. 1758 declares that the door to 
membership in NATO should remain open to all emerging democracies in 
Central and Eastern Europe, and expresses the sense of Congress that 
the Baltic Nations and Romania should not be admitted to NATO, and 
declares that Congress will not approve international agreements that 
accord second-class status to any new NATO members.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill declares that the door to NATO 
membership should not close in the first round of NATO enlargement this 
summer. Aspiring members who may be left out of the first round must be 
assured they will be considered for NATO membership in the future. This 
particular measure provides that Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania 
shall each be designated as eligible to receive assistance under the 
NATO Participation Act of 1994.
  So I urge my colleagues to give careful attention to this legislation 
when it is debated on the floor, because I believe it is of interest 
not only to Americans, but to all of those who live in the countries 
that have been designated as those who will be positive for NATO and 
positive for world peace.

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