    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2006)]
    [Page 1214]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Message to the Congress on Continuation of the National Emergency With
    Respect to the Western Balkans

    June 22, 2006

    To the Congress of the United States:

        Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d))
    provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless,
    prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President
    publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice
    stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the
    anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the
    enclosed notice to the Federal Register for publication, stating that
    the Western Balkans emergency is to continue in effect beyond June 26,
    2006. The most recent notice continuing this emergency was published in
    the Federal Register on June 24, 2005, 70 FR 36803.
        The crisis constituted by the actions of persons engaged in, or
    assisting, sponsoring, or supporting (i) extremist violence in the
    Republic of Macedonia, and elsewhere in the Western Balkans region, or
    (ii) acts obstructing implementation of the Dayton Accords in Bosnia or
    United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999, in
    Kosovo, that led to the declaration of a national emergency on June 26,
    2001, in Executive Order 13219 has not been resolved. Subsequent to the
    declaration of the national emergency, I amended Executive Order 13219
    in Executive Order 13304 of May 28, 2003, to address acts obstructing
    implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement of 2001 in the Republic
    of Macedonia, which have also become a concern. The acts of extremist
    violence and obstructionist activity outlined in Executive Order 13219,
    as amended, are hostile to U.S. interests and pose a continuing unusual
    and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of
    the United States. For these reasons, I have determined that it is
    necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to
    the Western Balkans and maintain in force the comprehensive sanctions to
    respond to this threat.
                                                    George W. Bush
     The White House,
     June 22, 2006.

    Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    June 23.