[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
[May 8, 2003]
[Pages 451-453]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks Honoring Central European Nations on Their Upcoming Admission to
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
May 8, 2003
Thank you all very much, and welcome to the White House. We're glad
you're here. Interestingly enough, it was here, 58 years ago today, that
President Harry Truman announced the end of the war in Europe. And the
people of America and Europe celebrated that victory together.
This year on V-E Day we mark another kind of victory in Europe. Just
hours ago, the United States Senate voted unanimously to support NATO
admission for Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia,
and Slovenia. These heroic nations have survived tyranny. They have won
their liberty and earned their place among free nations. America has
always considered them friends, and we will always be proud to call them
allies.
I appreciate the Foreign Ministers of the Dan NATO nations--or the nations who
will soon be joining NATO--who are with us today. We just had a great
discussion in the Roosevelt Room in the White House complex.
I appreciate so very much the Secretary of State, Colin
Powell, who has been a strong and tireless
advocate for the expansion of NATO.
I want to thank the Members of the United States Senate who have
joined us here today. I appreciate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee for coming. I particularly want to thank
Chairman Dick Lugar and ranking member Joe
Biden Jr. for their strong leadership in
getting the Senate to vote unanimously for the admission of these
nations into NATO. Great job, Senators.
I also am honored to welcome George Voinovich, the Senator from Ohio and, more importantly, Janet
Voinovich, his wife--[laughter]--and Senator
Carl Levin from Michigan. Welcome. I'm glad you
all are here, and thanks for coming.
I want to welcome the chairmen and chairwomen of the Parliamentary
foreign affairs committees who are here. I appreciate the Ambassadors
from our current and future allied nations who are joining us today. I
want to thank General Richard Myers for
joining us today, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And I want
to thank all of our distinguished guests for coming.
The defeat of Nazi Germany brought an end to the armed conflict in
Europe, but that victory did not bring true peace and
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unity to the Continent. For millions, tyranny remained in a different
uniform. The freedom of Bulgaria and Romania and Slovakia and Slovenia
was subverted by Communist dictators. And Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
were wiped off the map as independent countries.
As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe and walls and barbed wire
were raised, the free nations of Europe and the United States gathered
their will and courage and formed the greatest alliance of liberty.
Through 40 winters of cold war, NATO defended the security of the
western world and held in trust the ideal of freedom for all the peoples
of Europe.
This division, this great standoff, did not end in military
conflict. It ended when the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe took
history into their own hands and took back their rights and their
freedom.
From that moment, it was clear that the old lines dividing Europe
between East and West, the lines of Yalta, were entirely irrelevant to
the future.
Nearly 2 years ago, in Warsaw, I urged the enlargement of NATO to
all of Europe's democracies, from the Baltic to the Black Sea and all
that lie between, so that peoples in those countries would have the same
chance for security and freedom enjoyed by Europe's older democracies.
I called upon all the NATO Allies to renew our mission and to meet
the great challenges and opportunities of the world beyond Europe. And
these challenges arrived quickly. Following the terrorist attacks of
September the 11th, NATO invoked its commitment to the collective
defense for the first time in its history.
Our friends in Central and Eastern Europe responded as well,
providing resources of law enforcement and intelligence to help break up
terrorist cells, to disrupt terrorist plots, and to cut off terrorist
funding.
In the battle of Afghanistan, nations from Central and Eastern
Europe supplied soldiers and special forces and peacekeepers to help
defeat the Taliban, to help destroy the terrorists, and to bring freedom
to the Afghan people.
In the battle of Iraq, Central and Eastern European countries have
stood with America and our coalition to end a grave threat to peace and
to rid Iraq of a brutal, brutal regime. The peoples of Bulgaria,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia have a fresh
memory of tyranny. And they know the consequences of complacency in the
face of danger.
Time and again, they have demonstrated their desire and ability to
defend freedom against its enemies. They have proven themselves to be
allies by their action, and now it is time to make them allies by
treaty.
This morning's vote in the Senate brings that day closer. I urge all
the current members of NATO to welcome these new members as quickly as
possible. These nations will make NATO stronger, and we need that
strength for all the work that lies ahead. We must continue to fight
global terror and strongly oppose the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.
NATO itself must develop new military capabilities to meet the
emerging dangers of a new era. We must help the people of the Balkans to
become full partners in the progress of Europe. We welcome the
commitment of Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia to the values and
principles of NATO. And we will help them as they move forward with
reform.
We have work ahead in bringing order and security to Iraq, so the
Iraqi people can build the institutions of freedom and provide an
example of democracy to other Arab nations. And just as NATO has stood
for the freedom of all of Europe, we must stand with people everywhere
who strive for greater freedom and tolerance and development and health
and opportunity, including those in the Middle East and Africa.
This day was a long time in coming, yet there was never any doubt.
Through decades of crisis and division, Europe's peoples
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shared with people everywhere the same need and hope for freedom. This
hope overcame the designs of tyrants, and this hope overcame the
tragedies of war.
The nations of Central and Eastern Europe are one of history's great
examples of the power and appeal of liberty. And we believe that example
will be followed and multiplied throughout the world.
Thank you all for coming. May God bless your nations.
Note: The President spoke at 3:38 p.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi of
Bulgaria; Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland of Estonia; Foreign
Minister Sandra Kalniete of Latvia; Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis of
Lithuania; Foreign Minister Mircea Dan Geoana of Romania; Foreign
Minister Eduard Kukan of Slovakia; and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
of Slovenia. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
language transcript of these remarks.