Doug Bereuter: “I would begin by first thanking the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) for his initiative in introducing…”

“I would begin by first thanking the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) for his initiative in introducing this legislation in the first place and for working with us to ensure its final action here today. During the past several weeks, I have had the occasion to have Foreign Ministry leaders of these three countries in my office. No doubt that has happened with a number of us, and I must say that the progress that they are making is very dramatic. And in part that progress is driven by the fact that both the European Union and NATO have formal and informal criteria for membership, and it is pushing them along to make some of the important changes that mean we are going to have peace and stability, economic progress, civilian control of the military, transparency in military budgets, and so on. Most importantly, to move these countries along towards a rule of law and towards democratic institutions. So, Mr. Speaker, I think we can take some pleasure in their accomplishments and continue to urge them to make all the efforts necessary for membership, because I certainly want to see these three countries become members of the European Union, and especially NATO, as soon as possible.”