[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 150 (Tuesday, November 19, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11557-S11559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WHY SLOVENIA SHOULD BE INVITED TO JOIN NATO
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, the expansion of NATO is a forgone
conclusion. Formal invitations are expected at the Prague Summit next
week for three to nine new member countries to join. In fact, NATO
enlargement represents a logical extension of the first serious
American intervention in European geopolitics; namely, the famous
Fourteen Points of President Woodrow Wilson, which provided substantial
assistance and encouragement to the nations of Central Europe in their
long-deferred aspirations to gain political independence and
international recognition. History has shown that the substantial
disengagement of America
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from European politics between World War I and World War II, especially
in Central Europe, left many newly independent nations in that region
vulnerable to Russian and German hegemony.
As my colleagues know, NATO was originally created to confront the
threat of Soviet expansion and to counterbalance the Warsaw Pact.
Accordingly, when the cold war ended NATO's continued existence was
questioned because it had fulfilled its original purpose. Rather than
disband, however, NATO's 16 member countries, led by the United States,
have sought to redefine the organization to meet the needs and
challenges of a new era. NATO member states more recently have taken on
new tasks, such as intervening and bringing to an end warfare in the
Balkans. Since the September 11 attacks, NATO has also joined the
battlefront in the struggle against terrorism. Through it all, NATO has
looked to uphold the goals and principles it was conceived to defend:
democracy, security cooperation, stability, and peaceful problem-
solving throughout Europe and North America.
Critics of NATO expansion commonly cite article 5 of the NATO charter
which declares an attack on any one member is an attack on all and
obligates the signatories to assist the victim, as an unwise commitment
with great potential to entwine the U.S. in foreign military conflicts
in which U.S. security and vital national interests are not at stake. I
joined those who were concerned, in the immediate aftermath of the cold
war, that seeking NATO membership would require cash-strapped emerging
democracies in Southern and Eastern Europe to spend too much of their
national budgets on increased defense spending at the expense of
meeting pressing shortfalls in education, health care, and other basic
social needs.
Nevertheless, NATO enlargement is and has been the policy of our last
three Presidents--Republicans and Democrats alike--and seems to have
solid bipartisan support in the Congress. In Warsaw last year,
President Bush expressed his proenlargement views saying, ``all of
Europe's new democracies, from the Baltic to the Black Sea and all that
lie between, should have the same chance for security and freedom, and
the same chance to join the institutions of Europe, as Europe's old
democracies.'' At the upcoming NATO Summit in Prague, this alliance
will once again invite more countries to join NATO, and I believe
strongly that the Republic of Slovenia should be at the top of the list
for multiple reasons.
First, since Slovenia declared its independence in June 1991, the
Slovenian people have made great strides towards becoming a stable
parliamentary democracy. The Government of Slovenia is a tolerant one,
granting its citizens complete religious freedom and many of the same
civil liberties that we enjoy. It also respects the human rights of its
citizens and an independent judiciary reinforces respect for the rule
of law. An ombudsman deals with human rights problems, including
citizenship cases. Minorities generally are treated fairly in practice
as well as in law.
Second, with a rich industrial history, a traditional openness to the
world, and sound macroeconomic policies, Slovenia is among the most
successful countries in transitioning from socialism to a market
economy. It boasts a stable growth in GDP, which now exceeds the
equivalent of $16,000 in purchasing power parity relative to this small
country's per gross domestic product. Slovenia also ranks among the
countries with the lowest degree of investor risk. The level of
privatization achieved and many other measures have improved the
competitiveness of the Slovene economy and the profitability of
companies doing business with the European Union. Among the more than
144,000 registered companies in Slovenia, the greatest number are
engaged in trade and commerce, followed by industry, services, real
estate, construction, transport and communications. Following
independence, small business flowered and now more than 90 percent of
Slovenia's companies are classified as small business enterprises.
Third, Slovenia offers the alliance a new partner to help stabilize
and pacify the historically and currently unstable ``powder-keg''
region of the Balkans as well as Western and Central Europe. NATO
operations in the Balkans have already proven the value of temporary
bases, land, air and sea; transhipment facilities, transit concessions,
airspace, road, and rail links, sea transport; access to national
strategic intelligence, joint exercises in specific conditions,
linguistic and other forms of civilian-military cooperation and medical
services and Slovenia in NATO will help greatly in this regard.
Slovenia also assumed many of these responsibilities already when NATO
went to war with Serbia. Looking ahead, Slovenia's inclusion will
further strengthen NATO's southern flank by bridging current NATO
territory from Italy to Hungary and eventually perhaps its extension to
Romania and Bulgaria.
Fourth, Slovenian and U.S. Armed Forces have been developing ever-
closer working ties through collaborative database and curricula
development activities. Although this collaboration has not occurred
under NATO auspices, it has helped lay a solid foundation for Slovenia
becoming a full-fledged NATO member. For instance, after the September
11 attacks on America, the Government of Slovenia promptly offered
intelligence aid to the U.S. in various forms and joined the
antiterrorist coalition with full public consensus. Shortly thereafter,
the National Assembly of Slovenia adopted the Declaration on the Joint
Fight against Terrorism. Since then, the U.S. has deepened our
involvement with Slovenia on other fronts as well. For example, the
U.S. this fiscal year contributed an additional $14 million to the
Slovenian-led, International Trust for De-mining and Mine Victims
Assistance, ITF, which has become the premier demining program in
southern Europe.
Fifth, the Slovenian armed forces have made significant strides in
modernizing and reforming their operations and equipment. The
Government of Slovenia recently adopted a policy to transform the
military from the present conscript army towards fully- professional
armed forces. This fundamental change should accelerate the
establishment of the main reaction forces of the brigade-size needed in
order to be totally interchangeable and compatible with NATO tactics,
logistics and equipment. A large part of the 10th Battalion of this
force is currently deployed under the NATO flag in Bosnia, Herzegovina,
and Kosovo. Furthermore, Slovenia has invested greatly in the education
and training of its military officers and troops, so that today there
are about the same percentage of English-speaking troops in the
Slovenian Army as one would find in current NATO member's armed forces.
In fact, many top officers, more than 200, have trained in the American
military education institutes. According to both domestic and foreign
estimates, the Slovenian Government has allocated $320 million for
implementing these basic defense reforms. In 1996, the National
Assembly of Slovenia enacted a law mandating that all military
purchases and acquisitions be in accordance with NATO standards for
inter-operability. In short, the Government of Slovenia has already
done much of what is required and remains very committed to achieving
100 percent NATO compatibility and fielding well-trained, effective
armed forces.
Parenthetically, let me also say at this point that I don't think
requiring 2 percent of GDP in defense spending is necessarily a good
indicator of maximizing the contribution of so-called mini-member
states in NATO. Some NATO member countries actually count military
pensions toward fulfilling this requirement, but how do such military
expenditures actually contribute to the deterrence and effectiveness of
NATO armed forces? To me, it would make more sense to identify
specialized roles for the armed forces of mini-member states to
optimize their respective contributions to the overall increased
strength and versatility of NATO.
Finally, Slovenia's sociopolitical development already mirrors West
European standards. Not surprisingly therefore, political debate in
Slovenia now centers on health care, environment, education, social
welfare, and budget discipline. Since Slovenia's population is
demographically old, the pensioners issue is now hotly discussed. While
there is political consensus about the necessity for pension reform,
sharp differences persist about the role the
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state ought to play in the new system and whether or not the system
should be privatized. Their great national debate is quite akin to the
current prescription drug and Medicare debate in the U.S.
Clearly, Slovenia has made great strides in constructing a thriving
democratic government, ready to meet the challenges and demands of the
21st century. It is very impressive that the Slovenian people and their
duly elected government have accomplished all this in a mere 12 years.
The values and principles upon which their nation has been founded are
many of the same values and principles that we have come to cherish in
our own Government and to champion throughout the world. We should
embrace our Slovenian brothers and sisters and invite them into the
NATO fold this November.
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