Claiborne Pell: “Given Croatia's stepped-up involvement in the war, I believe that we have little choice but to sanction Croatia.…”

“Given Croatia's stepped-up involvement in the war, I believe that we have little choice but to sanction Croatia. Accordingly, I am offering an amendment that states that the President should begin imposing sanctions on Croatia. I would add that the amendment offers the President broad flexibility in choosing which tools to use in responding to Croatia's blatant violation of international borders. In May 1992, the Senate passed, by a vote of 99 to 0, an original Foreign Relations Committee bill to impose sanctions on Serbia because of the aggressive actions that it was--and continues to take--in Bosnia. Subsequently, a strict international sanctions regime has been imposed on Serbia. The Senate bill also set standards for imposing sanctions against the other former Yugoslav republics. Had the Senate bill become law, Croatia's current activities would have resulted in sanctions. That bill instructed the President to apply sanctions 'to any other independent country of the Former Yugoslavia which he determines is engaged, directly or indirectly, in military aggression against a neighbor for the purpose of changing its boundaries.' In essence, the Senate is already on record as endorsing some of the sanctions encompassed in my amendment. Indeed, my amendment holds Croatia to the same standards to which we are holding Serbia.”