Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) made the following opening statement at today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on protocols making Croatia and Albania members of NATO. Dodd, who is a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs, chaired the hearing at the request of Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE)

Prepared Remarks: Nearly sixty years ago, our leaders in the wake of the Second World War devised a security framework to defend western democracies against the threat of Soviet Communism. For almost sixty years, the alliance they forged has endured and expanded.  NATO has protected the Euro-Atlantic community and buttressed fledgling democracies. More than a military alliance, NATO has become an agent of peace and an important factor in the prosperity and integration of the nations of Europe.

NATO is an organization that runs on consensus requiring that every country in the alliance approve the addition of each new member.  In this manner NATO has added ten new members during the past ten years. 

Today we consider the third round of expansion, this time extending the alliance into the Balkans, with the addition of Albania and Croatia to full membership. 

I’d like to welcome and introduce the Administration witnesses who will assist us in our conclusions: Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Dan Fried and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dan Fata.  I am disappointed that the Department of Defense – breaking with past practice – has not made the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General John Craddock, available to speak to the important issue before us today.

We should not forget that NATO went to war in the Balkans nine years ago.  This is a region that has endured much pain.  We have made and continue to make substantial investments to promote regional peace.  Having Albania and Croatia within the alliance will be a force for stability in the Balkans.

Our aim in this hearing is to determine whether both of these candidate countries have met the criteria for NATO membership.  Our aim is also to determine whether it is in NATO’s and the United States’ own interest to confer upon them full membership.  Albania and Croatia deserve our admiration for the extensive political and military reform processes they have engaged in to reach this point, but our responsibility is to ask some tough questions.

In the 1990’s Secretary of Defense William Perry outlined "five principles" of political reform that each new candidate should meet. 

These include democratic elections, individual liberty, and the rule of law; demonstrated commitment to economic reform and market economy; adherence to the norms of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the treatment of ethnic minorities and social justice; resolution of territorial disputes with neighbors; and the establishment of democratic control of the military.  These are the standards we must apply when considering new members.

Both countries were officially invited to join the alliance at an important NATO summit in Bucharest this April, but their invitation wasn’t the only question of NATO enlargement on the agenda. 

The allies also extended an invitation to the country NATO recognizes as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  That invitation will take effect if and when they reach a compromise with Greece over the “name issue.” I hope they can find a mutually acceptable solution and I welcome an update on the status of these negotiations from our witnesses.

At Bucharest, Ukraine and Georgia petitioned for Membership Action Plans and received commitments to membership without an exact timeline and criteria.  Recent events in Georgia obviously have given greater salience to the issue of its eventual membership.  Next week, this Committee will hold a hearing on Georgia and the implications of the recent conflict  As tensions increase between NATO members and Russia, the geopolitical position of Ukraine, a country that straddles east and west, also increases attention about its prospects for membership.

The Foreign Relations Committee has a legislative responsibility to consider these questions of NATO enlargement and to initiate the process of approval in the Senate.  Each NATO state must consider the merits of the candidates and commit to the security of Albania and Croatia through their own constitutional procedures. If these protocols are approved by the Senate, we will extend our commitment to the defense of these two nations under Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty.

As we take this step, it is incumbent upon us to review the full range of implications.  We must consider our national interest and the nature of the allies we are embracing. 

We must ask:  Have there been democratic elections? What is their level of respect for the rights of the individual?  Have they successfully established the rule of law? Is there a demonstrated commitment to economic reform and market economy? How do they treat their minorities? Have they resolved all territorial disputes with their neighbors? And, finally, are their militaries responsible to democratically elected civilian officials?  When we apply these standards, NATO is more than an alliance; it is an agent of change, creating a freer and more peaceful Europe.

To undertake a commitment to mutual defense is one of the most serious steps any government can take.  It is a solemn commitment. We must consider the readiness of NATO to take on this additional responsibility, as well as the military capability and political institutions of a potential ally, but we must consider also the nature of that ally; as I stated at the outset NATO is more than a military alliance – it is a partnership of like-minded democracies dedicated to a vision of Europe whole and free.

I look forward to discussing these questions with our witnesses today.