Bill Clinton: “Well, my intention is to support an expansion of NATO. But in order to expand NATO we have to get agreement from all the…”

“Well, my intention is to support an expansion of NATO. But in order to expand NATO we have to get agreement from all the members of NATO about when to expand and how to expand. I can say this: The expansion of NATO is not dependent on any bad developments in Russia or anyplace else, and nobody has a veto over the expansion of NATO. But last year when I raised this question with the other NATO members, there was a strong feeling that we weren't yet ready to expand NATO but that we had to do something to try to create a better security environment in all of Central and East- ern Europe. And so the decision was made to launch the Partnership For Peace that was our idea, the United States idea, to try to get all the nations of Europe who would join to agree to do joint military exercises and to promise to respect one another's borders. Now 19 countries that were formerly in the Soviet bloc or the Warsaw Pact countries and formerly Soviet Union countries, plus Sweden and Finland have all agreed to join. And we will be having our first military exercises in Poland later this year. So the security of Poland is very important to me personally and to all the NATO countries. And the history of Poland is very much on our mind. But I think that the Polish people should feel very good about the rapid acceptance of Partnership For Peace, the fact that the first military exercises will be in Poland, and the fact that we are committed to the expansion of NATO. But after such a long time--NATO, after all, has existed for, well, more than four decades--I think it's just taking a while for the NATO members to decide exactly how membership should be expanded. Meanwhile, I think it's important not to underestimate this Partnership For Peace. Even when I proposed it, I didn't dream we'd have 19 countries immediately join from the former Communist bloc and then two others. There is a real desire to try to prove that we can unify Europe from a security point of view. And so I will keep pushing on it. Russia”