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[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 119 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 119

Commending the Republic of Croatia for the conduct of its parliamentary 
                      and presidential elections.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 6, 2000

Mr. Gorton (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Abraham, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. 
    Lieberman, and Mr. Sessions) submitted the following concurrent 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
Commending the Republic of Croatia for the conduct of its parliamentary 
                      and presidential elections.

Whereas the fourth Croatian parliamentary elections, held on January 3, 2000, 
        marked Croatia's progress toward meeting its commitments as a 
        participating state of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in 
        Europe (OSCE) and as a member of the Council of Europe;
Whereas Croatia's third presidential elections were conducted smoothly and 
        professionally and concluded on February 7, 2000, with the landslide 
        election of Stipe Mesic as the new President of the Republic of Croatia;
Whereas the free and fair elections in Croatia, and the following peaceful and 
        orderly transfer of power from the old government to the new, is an 
        example of democracy to the people of other nations in the region and a 
        major contribution to the democratic development of southeastern Europe; 
        and
Whereas the people of Croatia have made clear that they want Croatia to take its 
        rightful place in the family of European democracies and to develop a 
        closer and more constructive relationship with the Euro-Atlantic 
        community of democratic nations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the people of the Republic of Croatia are to be 
        congratulated on the successful elections and the outgoing 
        Government of Croatia is to be commended for the democratic 
        standards with which it managed the elections;
            (2) the United States should support the efforts of the new 
        Government of Croatia to increase its work on refugee return, 
        privatization reform, media reform, and further cooperation 
        with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia 
        (ICTY) to set an example to other countries in the region;
            (3) the Congress strongly supports Croatia's commitment to 
        democracy and will give its full support to the efforts of the 
        new Government of Croatia to fully implement democratic 
        reforms;
            (4) the United States should continue to promote Croatian-
        American economic, political, and military relations and to 
        recognize Croatia as a loyal partner in south central Europe; 
        and
            (5) taking into consideration Croatia's contributions as a 
        committed partner in the region, the Congress recommends 
        establishing a strategic partnership with the Republic of 
        Croatia and supports the serious consideration of Croatia's 
        candidacy for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty 
        Organization's Partnership for Peace program and its candidacy 
        for accession into the World Trade Organization.
                                 <all>
```