[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 25 (Monday, June 30, 2008)]
[Pages 899-900]
[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 24, 2008

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

[[Page 900]]

Register for publication stating that the Western Balkans emergency is 
to continue in effect beyond June 26, 2008.
    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 and to Executive Order 13304 of May 28, 
2003, has not been resolved. 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 24, 2008.