III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 27

Establishing the policy of the United States toward NATO’s Washington

Summit.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 19, 1999

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. ROTH, Mr. LOTT, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr.

DEWINE, Mr. VOINOVICH, and Mr. HAGEL) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Establishing the policy of the United States toward NATO’s

Washington Summit.

Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary at a historic summit

meeting in Washington, D.C., commencing on April 23,

1999;

Whereas NATO, the only military alliance with both real defense capabilities and a transatlantic membership, has

successfully defended the territory and interest of its

members over the last 50 years, prevailed in the Cold

War, and contributed to the spread of freedom, democracy, stability, and peace throughout Europe;
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Whereas NATO remains a vital national security interest of

the United States;

Whereas NATO is currently conducting military operations

against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and

Montenegro) to further the objective of a lasting peace in

Kosovo;

Whereas NATO enhances the security of the United States

by embedding European states in a process of cooperative

security planning, by preventing the destabilizing renationalization of European military policies, and by ensuring an ongoing and direct leadership role for the

United States in European security affairs;

Whereas the enlargement of NATO, a defensive alliance,

threatens no nation and reinforces peace and stability in

Europe, and provides benefits to all nations;

Whereas Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that

‘‘any other European state in a position to further the

principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security

of the North Atlantic area’’ is eligible to be granted

NATO membership;

Whereas the July 1998 communique of the NATO Summit

in Madrid reaffirmed that ‘‘NATO remains open to new

members under Article X of the North Atlantic Treaty’’

and stated that ‘‘the Alliance expects to extend further

invitations in coming years to nations willing and able to

assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership’’;

Whereas the accession to NATO by Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary will strengthen the military capabilities of NATO, enhance security and stability in Central
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and Eastern Europe, and thereby advance the interests

of the United States and NATO;

Whereas Congress has repeatedly endorsed the enlargement

of NATO with bipartisan majorities;

Whereas the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a multinational

body composed of delegations from the member states of

the North Atlantic Treaty, has called for NATO to welcome new members through the adoption of Resolution

283 of 1998, entitled ‘‘Recasting Euro-Atlantic Security:

Towards the Washington Summit’’;

Whereas additional democracies of Central and Eastern Europe have applied for NATO membership;

Whereas the enlargement of NATO must be a careful, deliberate process with consideration of all security interests;

Whereas the selection of new members should depend on

NATO’s strategic interests, potential threats to security

and stability, and actions taken by prospective members

to complete the transition to democracy and to harmonize

policies with NATO’s political, economic, and military

guidelines established by the 1995 NATO Study on Enlargement;

Whereas NATO must consider and debate the qualifications

and potential ramifications of new members on a country-by-country basis;

Whereas the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic, and

Hungary to NATO is an important step in the post-Cold

War era toward a Europe that is truly whole, undivided,

free, and at peace and must be complemented by the extension of NATO membership to other qualified democracies of Central and Eastern Europe;
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Whereas extending NATO membership to other qualified democracies will strengthen NATO, enhance security and

stability, deter potential aggressors, and thereby advance

the interests of the United States and its NATO allies;

Whereas, because participation in missions under Article 4 of

the North Atlantic Treaty is not obligatory and each

NATO member is free to make an independent decision

regarding participation in those missions, the United

States and other NATO members are able to decide on

the basis of their interests and an independent assessment of the situation whether to participate;

Whereas NATO’s continued success requires a credible military capability to deter and respond to common threats;

Whereas, building on its core capabilities for collective selfdefense of its members, NATO will ensure that its military force structure, defense planning, command structures, and force goals promote NATO’s capacity to

project power when the security of a NATO member is

threatened, and provide a basis for ad hoc coalitions of

willing partners among NATO members;

Whereas the members of NATO face new threats, including

conflict in the North Atlantic area stemming from historic, ethnic, and religious enmities, the potential for the

reemergence of a hegemonic power confronting Europe,

rogue states and nonstate actors possessing weapons of

mass destruction, and threats to the wider interests of

the NATO members (including the disruption of the flow

of vital resources);

Whereas this will require that NATO members possess national military capabilities to rapidly deploy forces over

long distances, sustain operations for extended periods of
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time, and operate jointly with the United States in high

intensity conflicts; and

1 Whereas the principal effect of upgraded capabilities for

2 NATO members to operate ‘‘out of area’’ with force

3 improvements for power projection will be to make

4 NATO members more effective American partners in

5 supporting mutual interests around the globe: Now,

6 therefore, be it

7 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

8 concurring), That (a) Congress—

9 (1) regards the political independence and terri10 torial integrity of the emerging democracies in Cen11 tral and Eastern Europe as vital to European peace

12 and security and, thus, to the interests of the United

13 States;

14 (2) endorses the commitment of the North At15 lantic Council that NATO will remain open to the

16 accession of further members in accordance with Ar17 ticle 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty;

18 (3) believes all NATO members should commit

19 to improving their respective defense capabilities so

20 that NATO can project power decisively within and

21 outside NATO borders in a manner that achieves

22 transatlantic parity in power projection capabilities

23 and facilitates equitable burdensharing among

24 NATO members; and
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1 (4) believes that NATO should prepare more

2 vigorously to defend itself against future threats and

3 to expand its primary defensive focus beyond its pre4 vious concentration on threats to the east.

5 (b) It is the sense of Congress that—

6 (1) the North Atlantic Council should pace, not

7 pause, the process of NATO enlargement by extend8 ing the invitation of membership to those states able

9 to meet the guidelines established by the 1995

10 NATO Study on Enlargement and should do so on

11 a country-by-country basis;

12 (2) the North Atlantic Council in the course of

13 the 1999 Washington Summit should initiate a for14 mal review of all pending applications for NATO

15 membership in order to establish the degree to which

16 such applications conform to the guidelines for mem17 bership established by the 1995 NATO Study on

18 Enlargement;

19 (3) the results of this formal review should be

20 presented to the membership of the North Atlantic

21 Council in May 2000 with recommendations con22 cerning enlargement;

23 (4) NATO should continue to assess potential

24 applicants for NATO membership on a continuous

25 basis; and
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1 (5) the President, the Secretary of State, and

2 the Secretary of Defense should fully use their of3 fices to encourage the NATO allies of the United

4 States to commit the resources necessary to upgrade

5 their capabilities to rapidly deploy forces over long

6 distances, sustain operations for extended periods of

7 time, and operate jointly with the United States in

8 high intensity conflicts, thus making them effective

9 American partners in supporting mutual interests.

10 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

11 In this concurrent resolution:

12 (1) DEMOCRACIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN

13 EUROPE.—The term ‘‘democracies of Central and

14 Eastern Europe’’ means those nations that have ap15 plied or have registered their intent to apply for

16 membership in NATO, including Albania, Bulgaria,

17 Estonia, Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,

18 Slovakia, and Slovenia.

19 (2) NATO.—The term ‘‘NATO’’ means those

20 nations that are parties to the North Atlantic Trea21 ty.

22 (3) NATO MEMBER.—The term ‘‘NATO mem23 ber’’ means any country that is a party to the North

24 Atlantic Treaty.
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1 (4) NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY.—The term

2 ‘‘North Atlantic Treaty’’ means the North Atlantic

3 Treaty, signed at Washington on April 4, 1949 (63

4 Stat. 2241; TIAS 1964).

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