[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 28 (Monday, July 14, 1997)]
[Pages 1029-1031]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Members of Congress and the National 
Security Team and an Exchange With Reporters in Madrid, Spain

July 7, 1997

NATO Expansion

    The President. Let me begin by saying that I and the leaders of my 
administration team here have just finished a very important meeting 
with the congressional delegation. We are here in Madrid on an historic 
mission, to fashion a new NATO for a new Europe that is undivided for 
the first time in history for a new century. And that new NATO will 
include new members, new missions, and new ties to countries, including 
the very important one we concluded last month with Russia and the one 
we will solidify here with Ukraine.
    For the United States to do its part, the Congress is obviously key 
for several reasons: First, any attempt to expand NATO to admit new 
members must be ratified by the Con

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gress; secondly, while we expect the costs to be modest, it is not a 
free decision because of the costs of integrating new countries into the 
military planning and operations of NATO; and third, because we believe 
that the policy itself requires that we keep an open door to the 
prospect of other democracies coming in, and that is something that 
clearly would have to be supported by the Congress.
    The Members have made it clear to me that while we have 
representatives here from both Chambers and both parties, indicating 
that the United States understands it's important that we be united on 
the question of Europe, we have a ways to go to convince the American 
people of the momentous importance of decisions we're making here and 
the need for them to support it. And that is a job that I intend to take 
on when I go home, and I look forward to having the support of as many 
Members as possible for fulfilling it.
    But the fact that this delegation, from both parties and both 
Chambers of Congress is here is very important. And the leader of the 
delegation, Senator Roth, who has been very active in these matters for 
years, will also address this summit, and I am very grateful for that.
    Senator, would you like to say anything?
    Senator Roth. Well, thank you, Mr. President. This is indeed an 
historic moment, and the reason I say it's an historic moment is that 
here we are, sitting together, Republicans and Democrats, urging the 
expansion of NATO.
    And why expand NATO now? The reason for doing that is peace and 
security. We want to fill a vacuum in Eastern Europe. We want to give 
Eastern--Central Europe the same opportunity we helped give Western 
Europe, to democratize and reform for freedom. And I think that the fact 
that we're here together in a bipartisan spirit shows the importance of 
the matter. And the fact is that an undivided Europe, democratic, is the 
best chance for peace in our time.
    The President. Thank you.
    Q. Mr. President, are you convinced that you will take in only three 
members instead of five, despite the opposition?
    The President. I believe that the decision--the consensus decision 
will be for three, but I hope and believe that there will be a clear 
message that the door to NATO remains open. I know that there is support 
for Romania and for Slovenia, and I believe that they could well be 
strong candidates for future admission. And I think there are other 
nations that might be as well. I think it's important that we not look 
at Europe as a three- or a five-nation operation, that this is the 
beginning of a process that I think will go on.
    Let me also emphasize that there are a lot of other nations that 
have been part of our Partnership For Peace. We are explicitly creating 
a political arm of that partnership, if you will, in the Euro-Atlantic 
Partnership Council. That has succeeded beyond anybody's estimation. 
When the United States first proposed that, frankly, to be candid, even 
we thought--we never dreamed there would be that much interest in it, 
that so many countries would participate and that it would work as well 
as it has. I think that one of the reasons you have so many people in 
Bosnia today, so many countries, is because of the way the Partnership 
For Peace has worked.
    So we are moving Europe's democracies closer and closer together, 
and we'll continue to do it. And I don't think that the difference of 
opinion we've had over how many to let in now should obscure the 
overwhelming unanimity of the fact that NATO should expand, should take 
on new missions, and should maintain new alliances with Russia, with 
Ukraine, and with the members of the Partnership For Peace.
    Q. Mr. President, is there anything you've heard from this 
congressional delegation that causes you any concern about the U.S. 
Congress going along with this? Or is there anything that troubles you 
as far as them giving their approval?
    The President. Well, what they've done is they've just reminded that 
we've got to sell Congress on two things, and the two things are bound 
together. One is, Congress would have to agree to ratify an amendment to 
the NATO treaty putting in new members. And the second is that we would 
have to agree to pay our portion of the cost of integrating those new 
members. And they pointed out

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to me, in no uncertain terms, that we've got a sales job to do, but we 
think we can do it.
    Q. Mr. President, the Russians have said that if former Soviet 
Republics are going to be admitted to NATO, they will have to reexamine 
their relationship with the alliance, a clear message that they would 
oppose the Baltic States being new members. Will this summit, do you 
believe, send a clear message that when we say the door is open, it also 
includes Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia?

    The President. My position is that no European democracy should be 
excluded from ultimate consideration. And I have said that--I believe my 
personal position is that should apply to Russia as well, that any 
democratic country in Europe prepared to make NATO's commitments, which 
includes recognizing the territorial integrity of every other democracy 
in Europe and every member of NATO and recognizing our mutual 
responsibility for one another's security, that anyone should be 
considered. That's always been the United States position, and that is 
mine. And I think it's the--I believe that's the position of every 
Republican and Democrat in this room. I believe it is.
    Q. Is there no chance that you will change your mind on three versus 
five?

    The President. My view on three versus five is based on the simple 
fact that NATO is a military as well as a political organization and we 
have to be quite disciplined in making judgments about who should come 
in to membership in terms of the obligations that they have to assume 
and their capacity to do it. I am very enthusiastic about the 
developments that have taken place in Romania and Slovenia recently. I 
think the fact that they've resolved territorial difficulties, that the 
Romanians have taken two Hungarians into the Government and the cabinet, 
these things are extremely laudatory. I'm glad they want to be in NATO, 
and I think that they should get consideration. I just don't think at 
this time that they should be admitted. That's what I believe. And I 
think there are a lot of other countries who feel that. But we have to 
reach a consensus decision, and that's where I think--I hope and believe 
that's where we'll come out.

Note: The President spoke at 6:43 p.m. at the Miguel Angel Hotel.