Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I) - Message to the Senate Transmitting the Flank Document of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty With Documentation

[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[April 7, 1997]
[Pages 399-401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Message to the Senate Transmitting the Flank Document of the 
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty With Documentation
April 7, 1997

To the Senate of the United States:
    I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate, the 
Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the Treaty on Conventional 
Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) of November 19, 1990, which was adopted at 
Vienna on May 31, 1996 (``the Flank Document''). The Flank Document is 
Annex A of the Final Document of the first CFE Review Conference.
    I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report of 
the Department of State on the Flank Document, together with a section-
by-section analysis of the Flank Document and three documents associated 
with it that are relevant to the Senate's consideration: the 
Understanding on Details of the Flank Document of 31 May 1996 in Order 
to Facilitate its Implementation; the Exchange of Letters between the

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U.S. Chief Delegate to the CFE Joint Consultative Group and the Head of 
the Delegation of the Russian Federation to the Joint Consultative 
Group, dated 25 July 1996; and, the Extension of Provisional Application 
of the Document until May 15, 1997. I take this step as a matter of 
accommodation to the desires of the Senate and without prejudice to the 
allocation of rights and duties under the Constitution.
    In transmitting the original CFE Treaty to the Senate in 1991, 
President Bush said that the CFE Treaty was ``the most ambitious arms 
control agreement ever concluded.'' This landmark treaty has been a 
source of stability, predictability, and confidence during a period of 
historic change in Europe. In the years since the CFE Treaty was signed, 
the Soviet Union has dissolved, the Warsaw Pact has disappeared, and the 
North Atlantic Alliance has been transformed. The treaty has not been 
unaffected by these changes--for example, there are 30 CFE States 
Parties now, not 22--but the dedication of all Treaty partners to 
achieving its full promise is undiminished.
    The CFE Treaty has resulted in the verified reduction of more than 
50,000 pieces of heavy military equipment, including tanks, armored 
combat vehicles, artillery pieces, combat aircraft, and attack 
helicopters. By the end of 1996, CFE states had accepted and conducted 
more than 2,700 intrusive, on-site inspections. Contacts between the 
military organizations charged with implementing CFE are cooperative and 
extensive. The CFE Treaty has helped to transform a world of two armed 
camps into a Europe where dividing lines no longer hold.
    The Flank Document is part of that process. It is the culmination of 
over 2 years of negotiations and months of intensive discussions with 
the Russian Federation, Ukraine, our NATO Allies, and our other CFE 
Treaty partners. The Flank Document resolves in a cooperative way the 
most difficult problem that arose during the Treaty's first 5 years of 
implementation: Russian and Ukrainian concerns about the impact of the 
Treaty's equipment limits in the flank zone on their security and 
military flexibility. The other Treaty states--including all NATO 
Allies--agreed that some of those concerns were reasonable and ought to 
be addressed.
    The Flank Document is the result of a painstaking multilateral 
diplomatic effort that had as its main goal the preservation of the 
integrity of the CFE Treaty and achievement of the goals of its mandate. 
It is a crucial step in adaptation of the CFE Treaty to the dramatic 
political changes that have occurred in Europe since the Treaty was 
signed. The Flank Document confirms the importance of subregional 
constraints on heavy military equipment. More specifically, it 
revalidates the idea, unique to CFE, of limits on the amount of 
equipment particular nations in the Treaty area can locate on certain 
portions of their own national territory. Timely entry into force of the 
Flank Document will ensure that these key principles are not a matter of 
debate in the negotiations we have just begun in Vienna to adapt the CFE 
Treaty to new political realities, including the prospect of an enlarged 
NATO.
    I believe that entry into force of the CFE Flank Document is in the 
best interests of the United States and will contribute to our broader 
efforts to establish a new European security order based on cooperation 
and shared goals. By maintaining the integrity of the CFE flank regime, 
we take a key step toward our goal of ensuring that the CFE Treaty 
continues to play a key role in enhancing military stability into the 
21st century. Therefore, I urge the Senate to give early and favorable 
consideration to the Flank Document and to give advice and consent prior 
to May 15, 1997.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,

April 7, 1997.

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