11 February 1998

FACT SHEET: STATE DEPT. ON NATO ENLARGEMENT

(State Dept. official release Feb. 11) (750)



(The following was issued by the State Department February 11, 1998)



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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE



Fact Sheet on NATO Enlargement



-- The President today transmitted to the Senate the protocols of
ratification that will add Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to
the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949.


-- Since 1994 the President has stressed the need to add Central
European states to NATO as part of a broader strategy to help build an
undivided, democratic, and peaceful Europe.


-- At NATO's Madrid summit in July 1997, President Clinton and the
other NATO leaders unanimously agreed to invite Poland, Hungary, and
the Czech Republic to begin the process of joining the Alliance.


-- During Fall 1997, NATO held four rounds of accession talks with
Poland and five each with Hungary and the Czech Republic. On the basis
of these talks, Secretary of State Albright and her NATO counterparts
on December 16, 1997 signed the protocols of accession, which must he
ratified by all 16 NATO member states. Ratification in the U.S.
requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate.


-- Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have built vibrant
democracies and market economies, and have helped to build stability
throughout their region. All three states have built strong relations
with the United States; all three contributed to the military
coalition in the Gulf War, and all three have expressed their support
for our current efforts in Iraq.


-- Adding these three states to the Alliance will benefit U.S.
national security in four ways:


1. Reduce future threats to transatlantic security. Europe remains a
vital U.S. interest, and a larger Alliance can better carry out NATO's
core mission of collective defense as well as other missions, such as
addressing threats of weapons proliferation.


2. Strengthen the Alliance. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic
will add over 200,000 troops to NATO, as well as naval, air force, and
infrastructure assets. They have proved their willingness to
contribute to the security of the region by providing over 1,000
troops to SFOR, and participation in hundreds of partnership for Peace
exercises and activities.


3. Bolster stability and democracy in Europe. The process of
enlargement has encouraged states in the region to settle border and
ethnic disputes with neighbors, strengthen civilian control of their
militaries, and increase tolerance for ethnic and religious
minorities.


4. Erase Cold War dividing line. NATO's addition of these three new
members and its pledge to hold the door open to membership for other
qualified European democracies, along with other efforts such as the
NATO's partnership for Peace program, will help to erase Europe's
outdated Cold War dividing line.


-- On May 27, 1997, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and President
Clinton and NATO's other leaders met in Paris to sign the NATO-Russia
Founding Act, which lays the foundation for a new and constructive
relationship between the Alliance and Moscow. During the period that
NATO has pursued the addition of new members, both the U.S. and NATO
have been able to pursue a range of cooperative efforts, from the
participation of Russian troops in the mission in Bosnia, to
cooperation in space, to the pledge by President's Clinton and Yeltsin
in 1997 to work to bring the START II arms control treaty into force,
which would permit negotiation of deeper nuclear arms reductions under
a START III treaty.


-- In December 1997, NATO ministers accepted a set of studies that
estimated the costs of adding these three new members to the Alliance.
The studies estimate that the additional cost to NATO's common-funded
budgets will be about $1.5 billion over a 10 year period. The U.S. has
paid about 25 percent of the cost of these budgets in years past, and
will continue to do so. Thus, the U.S. share of the additional cost to
NATO's common-funded budgets will be about $400 million over a 10 year
period. A February 1997 analysis by the Pentagon noted that current
and new allies will bear costs for military modernization related to
enlargement, and these costs will be financed through their own
national military budgets.


-- The President, who invited members of both chambers and both
parties to be part of his delegation at the Madrid summit, will
continue working closely with the Senate with a goal of U.S.
ratification in early 1998.


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