[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23152-23153]
[From the U.S. 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 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

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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 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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