[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 53 (Monday, April 19, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3854-S3855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 27--ESTABLISHING THE POLICY OF THE UNITED 
                 STATES TOWARD NATO'S WASHINGTON SUMMIT

  Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. Roth, Mr. Lott, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
DeWine, Mr. Voinovich, and Mr. Hagel) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 27

       Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will 
     celebrate its fiftieth anniversary at a historic summit 
     meeting in Washington, D.C., commencing on April 23, 1999;
       Whereas NATO, the only military alliance with both real 
     defense capabilities and a transatlantic membership, has 
     successfully defended the territory and interest of its 
     members over the last 50 years, prevailed in the Cold War, 
     and contributed to the spread of freedom, democracy, 
     stability, and peace throughout Europe;
       Whereas NATO remains a vital national security interest of 
     the United States;
       Whereas NATO is currently conducting military operations 
     against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
     Montenegro) to further the objective of a lasting peace in 
     Kosovo;
       Whereas NATO enhances the security of the United States by 
     embedding European states in a process of cooperative 
     security planning, by preventing the destabilizing 
     renationalization of European military policies, and by 
     ensuring an ongoing and direct leadership role for the United 
     States in European security affairs;
       Whereas the enlargement of NATO, a defensive alliance, 
     threatens no nation and reinforces peace and stability in 
     Europe, and provides benefits to all nations;
       Whereas Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that 
     ``any other European state in a position to further the 
     principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security 
     of the North Atlantic area'' is eligible to be granted NATO 
     membership;
       Whereas the July 1998 communique of the NATO Summit in 
     Madrid reaffirmed that ``NATO remains open to new members 
     under Article X of the North Atlantic Treaty'' and stated 
     that ``the Alliance expects to extend further invitations in 
     coming years to nations willing and able to assume the 
     responsibilities and obligations of membership'';
       Whereas the accession to NATO by Poland, the Czech 
     Republic, and Hungary will strengthen the military 
     capabilities of NATO, enhance security and stability in 
     Central and Eastern Europe, and thereby advance the interests 
     of the United States and NATO;
       Whereas Congress has repeatedly endorsed the enlargement of 
     NATO with bipartisan majorities;
       Whereas the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a multinational 
     body composed of delegations from the member states of the 
     North Atlantic Treaty, has called for NATO to welcome new 
     members through the adoption of Resolution 283 of 1998, 
     entitled ``Recasting Euro-Atlantic Security: Towards the 
     Washington Summit'';
       Whereas additional democracies of Central and Eastern 
     Europe have applied for NATO membership;
       Whereas the enlargement of NATO must be a careful, 
     deliberate process with consideration of all security 
     interests;
       Whereas the selection of new members should depend on 
     NATO's strategic interests, potential threats to security and 
     stability, and actions taken by prospective members to 
     complete the transition to democracy and to harmonize 
     policies with NATO's political, economic, and military 
     guidelines established by the 1995 NATO Study on Enlargement;
       Whereas NATO must consider and debate the qualifications 
     and potential ramifications of new members on a country-by-
     country basis;
       Whereas the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic, and 
     Hungary to NATO is an important step in the post-Cold War era 
     toward a Europe that is truly whole, undivided, free, and at 
     peace and must be complemented by the extension of NATO 
     membership to other qualified democracies of Central and 
     Eastern Europe;
       Whereas extending NATO membership to other qualified 
     democracies will strengthen NATO, enhance security and 
     stability, deter potential aggressors, and thereby advance 
     the interests of the United States and its NATO allies;
       Whereas, because participation in missions under Article 4 
     of the North Atlantic Treaty is not obligatory and each NATO 
     member is free to make an independent decision regarding 
     participation in those missions, the United States and other 
     NATO members are able to decide on the basis of their 
     interests and an independent assessment of the situation 
     whether to participate;
       Whereas NATO's continued success requires a credible 
     military capability to deter and respond to common threats;
       Whereas, building on its core capabilities for collective 
     self-defense of its members, NATO will ensure that its 
     military force structure, defense planning, command 
     structures, and force goals promote NATO's capacity to 
     project power when the security of a NATO member is 
     threatened, and provide a basis for ad hoc coalitions of 
     willing partners among NATO members;
       Whereas the members of NATO face new threats, including 
     conflict in the North Atlantic area stemming from historic, 
     ethnic, and religious enmities, the potential for the 
     reemergence of a hegemonic power confronting Europe, rogue 
     states and nonstate actors possessing weapons of mass 
     destruction, and threats to the wider interests of the NATO 
     members (including the disruption of the flow of vital 
     resources);
       Whereas this will require that NATO members possess 
     national military capabilities to rapidly deploy forces over 
     long distances, sustain operations for extended periods of 
     time, and operate jointly with the United States in high 
     intensity conflicts; and
       Whereas the principal effect of upgraded capabilities for 
     NATO members to operate ``out of area'' with force 
     improvements for power projection will be to make NATO 
     members more effective American partners in supporting mutual 
     interests around the globe: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That (a) Congress--
       (1) regards the political independence and territorial 
     integrity of the emerging democracies in Central and Eastern 
     Europe as vital to European peace and security and, thus, to 
     the interests of the United States;
       (2) endorses the commitment of the North Atlantic Council 
     that NATO will remain open to the accession of further 
     members in accordance with Article 10 of the North Atlantic 
     Treaty;
       (3) believes all NATO members should commit to improving 
     their respective defense capabilities so that NATO can 
     project power decisively within and outside NATO borders in a 
     manner that achieves transatlantic parity in power projection 
     capabilities and facilitates equitable burdensharing among 
     NATO members; and
       (4) believes that NATO should prepare more vigorously to 
     defend itself against future threats and to expand its 
     primary defensive focus beyond its previous concentration on 
     threats to the east.
       (b) It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the North Atlantic Council should pace, not pause, the 
     process of NATO enlargement by extending the invitation of 
     membership to those states able to meet the guidelines 
     established by the 1995 NATO Study on Enlargement and should 
     do so on a country-by-country basis;
       (2) the North Atlantic Council in the course of the 1999 
     Washington Summit should initiate a formal review of all 
     pending applications for NATO membership in order to 
     establish the degree to which such applications conform to 
     the guidelines for membership established by the 1995 NATO 
     Study on Enlargement;
       (3) the results of this formal review should be presented 
     to the membership of the North Atlantic Council in May 2000 
     with recommendations concerning enlargement;
       (4) NATO should continue to assess potential applicants for 
     NATO membership on a continuous basis; and
       (5) the President, the Secretary of State, and the 
     Secretary of Defense should fully use their offices to 
     encourage the NATO allies of the United States to commit the 
     resources necessary to upgrade their capabilities to rapidly 
     deploy forces over long distances, sustain operations for 
     extended periods of time, and operate jointly with the United 
     States in high intensity conflicts, thus making them 
     effective American partners in supporting mutual interests.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this concurrent resolution:
       (1) Democracies of central and eastern europe.--The term 
     ``democracies of Central and Eastern Europe'' means those 
     nations that have applied or have registered their intent to 
     apply for membership in NATO, including Albania, Bulgaria, 
     Estonia, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and 
     Slovenia.
       (2) NATO.--The term ``NATO'' means those nations that are 
     parties to the North Atlantic Treaty.

[[Page S3855]]

       (3) NATO member.--The term ``NATO member'' means any 
     country that is a party to the North Atlantic Treaty.
       (4) North atlantic treaty.--The term ``North Atlantic 
     Treaty'' means the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at 
     Washington on April 4, 1949 (63 Stat. 2241; TIAS 1964).

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