[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 20 (Monday, May 19, 1997)]
[Pages 712-714]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Conditions to the Flank Document of the 
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty

May 14, 1997

To the Congress of the United States:

    In accordance with the resolution of advice and consent to 
ratification on the Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the 
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990 
(``the CFE Flank Document''), adopted by the Senate of the United States 
on May 14, 1997, I hereby certify that:
    In connection with Condition (2), Violations of State Sovereignty, 
the United States and the governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, 
France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom have issued a 
joint statement affirming that (i) the CFE Flank Document does not give 
any State Party the right to station (under Article IV, paragraph 5 of 
the Treaty) or temporarily deploy (under Ar

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ticle V, paragraphs 1 (B) and (C) of the Treaty) conventional arms and 
equipment limited by the Treaty on the territory of other States Parties 
to the Treaty without the freely expressed consent of the receiving 
State Party; (ii) the CFE Flank Document does not alter or abridge the 
right of any State Party under the Treaty to utilize fully its declared 
maximum levels for conventional armaments and equipment limited by the 
Treaty notified pursuant to Article VII of the Treaty; and (iii) the CFE 
Flank Document does not alter in any way the requirement for the freely 
expressed consent of all States Parties concerned in the exercise of any 
reallocations envisioned under Article IV, paragraph 3 of the CFE Flank 
Document.
    In connection with Condition (6), Application and Effectiveness of 
Senate Advice and Consent, in the course of diplomatic negotiations to 
secure accession to, or ratification of, the CFE Flank Document by any 
other State Party, the United States will vigorously reject any effort 
by a State Party to (i) modify, amend, or alter a United States right or 
obligation under the Treaty or the CFE Flank Document, unless such 
modification, amendment, or alteration is solely an extension of the 
period of provisional application of the CFE Flank Document or a change 
of a minor administrative or technical nature; (ii) secure the adoption 
of a new United States obligation under, or in relation to, the CFE 
Treaty or the CFE Flank Document, unless such obligation is solely of a 
minor administrative or technical nature; or (iii) secure the provision 
of assurances, or endorsement of a course of action or a diplomatic 
position, inconsistent with the principles and policies established 
under conditions (1), (2), and (3) of the resolution of advice and 
consent to ratification of the CFE Flank Document.
    In connection with Condition (7), Modifications of the CFE Flank 
Zone, any subsequent agreement to modify, revise, amend or alter the 
boundaries of the CFE flank zone, as delineated by the map entitled 
``Revised CFE Flank Zone'' submitted to the Senate on April 7, 1997, 
shall require the submission of such agreement to the Senate for its 
advice and consent to ratification, if such changes are not solely of a 
minor administrative or technical nature.
    In connection with Condition (9), Senate Prerogatives on 
Multilateralization of the ABM Treaty, I will submit to the Senate for 
advice and consent to ratification any international agreement (i) that 
would add one or more countries as States Parties to the ABM Treaty, or 
otherwise convert the ABM Treaty from a bilateral treaty to a 
multilateral treaty; or (ii) that would change the geographic scope or 
coverage of the ABM Treaty, or otherwise modify the meaning of the term 
``national territory'' as used in Article VI and Article IX of the ABM 
Treaty.
    In connection with Condition (11), Temporary Deployments, the United 
States has informed all other States Parties to the Treaty that the 
United States (A) will continue to interpret the term ``temporary 
deployment'', as used in the Treaty, to mean a deployment of severely 
limited duration measured in days or weeks or, at most, several months, 
but not years; (B) will pursue measures designed to ensure that any 
State Party seeking to utilize the temporary deployments provision of 
the Treaty will be required to furnish the Joint Consultative Group 
established by the Treaty with a statement of the purpose and intended 
duration of the deployment, together with a description of the object of 
verification and the location of origin and destination of the relevant 
conventional armaments and equipment limited by the Treaty; and (C) will 
vigorously reject any effort by a State Party to use the right of 
temporary deployment under the Treaty (i) to justify military 
deployments on a permanent basis; or (ii) to justify military 
deployments without the full and complete agreement of the State Party 
upon whose territory the armed forces or military equipment of another 
State Party are to be deployed.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
May 14, 1997.

Note: This letter was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
May 15.

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