James M. Jeffords: “Today I am submitting an amendment to the resolution to ratify the accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic…”

“Today I am submitting an amendment to the resolution to ratify the accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This amendment addresses future new membership in the alliance. 28 countries in central Asia and eastern Europe that have applied for NATO membership or may aspire to join at a future date when they can meet NATO criteria. Today we are considering extending the NATO security umbrella to only three countries--Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. It is important that we have a clear understanding that the expansion process may go much further than this initial round. In January 1994, the Administration adopted the Partnership for Peace program to provide a framework for NATO's evaluation of states that are considered to be candidates for alliance membership. In addition to the first three countries invited to join NATO, nine other Partnership for Peace countries have begun the formal application process for membership--Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia. Moreover, another 15 countries have expressed an interest in NATO by joining the Partnership for Peace.”