Washington DC (JBANC) - The NATO Treaty, with enlargement of the Alliance to include seven new members as the focal point, is set to be debated by the full United States Senate beginning at noon on Wednesday. Four hours of formal debate are anticipated. The final Senate vote is expected at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 8.
The vote will be broadcast on C-Span, accessible on the Internet at:
http://www.c-span.org.
Foreign and Defense Ministers along with parliamentary leaders from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and four other invited aspirant countries are in Washington, DC this week in anticipation of the U.S. Senate NATO vote. A press conference with the seven foreign ministers is scheduled for Thursday morning, possibly at the conclusion of the vote. A White House ceremony is also planned for Thursday afternoon.
Senate Treaty 108-4, the “Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia” was transmitted by President Bush on April 10, following the signing of the Protocols by NATO members in Brussels on March 26.
Two amendments to the Treaty will be considered and voted on during Wednesday’s Senate session, one having to do with consensus and suspension mechanisms for members and the other on administrative structure. Concerns for these issues were raised at recent Senate NATO hearings.
The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC), representing a million Americans of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian heritage, has supported an eight-year long effort to see the three Baltic countries join NATO. Following the U.S. Senate vote, parliaments of the remaining 16 NATO members must also ratify the Treaty. Canada and Norway have already done so. It is expected that the seven invited countries will officially join the Alliance in May 2004.
It was also announced that a resolution (SR9) in support of Baltic NATO aspirations passed in the Wisconsin State Senate today. Similar resolutions have been introduced in the legislatures of a handful of states in recent years, including New Jersey, Michigan, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. The Council of State Governments of the United States passed a related resolution in April 2002.
The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. represents the Estonian American National Council, Inc., the American Latvian Association, Inc. and the Lithuanian American Council, Inc.
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JOINT BALTIC AMERICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, INC.
Representing:
Estonian American National Council, Inc.
American Latvian Association, Inc.
Lithuanian American Council, Inc.
400 Hurley Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Tel: (301) 340-1954
Fax: (301) 309-1406
E-Mail:
Net:
http://jbanc.org