Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 116 Part 1.djvu/617

 PUBLIC LAW 107-187^JUNE 10, 2002 116 STAT. 591 and the NATO heads of state and government issued a declaration stating "[t]he AlHance expects to extend further invitations in coming years to nations willing and able to assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership... [n]o European democratic country whose admission would fulfill the objectives of the [North Atlantic] Treaty will be excluded from consideration". (5) At the Washington Summit of the NATO Alliance in April 1999, the NATO heads of state and government issued a communique declaring "[w]e pledge that NATO will continue to welcome new members in a position to further the principles of the [North Atlemtic] Treaty and contribute to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area... [t]he three new members will not be the last... [n]o European democratic country whose admission would fulfill the objectives of the Treaty will be excluded from consideration, regardless of its geographic location...", (6) In late 2002, NATO will hold a summit in Prague, the Czech Republic, at which it will decide which additional emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe to invite to join the Alliance in the next round of NATO enlargement. (7) In May 2000 in Vilnius, Lithuania, the foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia issued a statement (later joined by Croatia) declaring that their countries will cooperate in jointly seeking NATO membership in the next round of NATO enlargement, that the realization of NATO membership by one or more of these countries would be a success for all, and that eventual NATO membership for all of these countries would be a success for Europe and NATO. (8) On June 15, 2001, in a speech in Warsaw, Poland, President George W. Bush stated "[a] 11 of Europe's new democracies, from the Baltic to the Black Sea and all that lie between, should have the seone chance for security and freedom—and the same chance to join the institutions of Europe—as Europe's old democracies have... I believe in NATO membership for all of Europe's democracies that seek it and are ready to share the responsibilities that NATO brings... [a]s we plan to enlarge NATO, no nation should be used as a pawn in the agenda of others... [wje will not trade away the fate of free European peoples... [n]o more Munichs... [n]o more Yaltas... [a]s we plan the Prague Summit, we should not calculate how little we can get away with, but how much we can do to advance the cause of freedom". (9) On October 22, 1996, in a speech in Detroit, Michigan, . former President William J. Clinton stated "NATO's doors will not close behind its first new members... NATO should ready to shoulder the responsibilities of membership... [n]o nation will be automatically excluded... [n]o country outside NATO will have a veto... [a] gray zone of insecurity must not reemerge in Europe". SEC. 3. DECLARATIONS OF POLICY. 22 USC 1928 r^ n ote. Congress—
 * remain open to all of Europe's emerging democracies who are

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