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U.S. Senate Votes to Allow NATO Expansion

Thursday, May 8, 2003
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

“This year on VE Day we mark another kind of victory in Europe. Just hours ago, the United States Senate voted unanimously to support NATO admission for Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. These heroic nations have survived tyranny, they have won their liberty and earned their place among free nations. America has always considered them friends, and we will always be proud to call them allies.”
-- President George W. Bush

President George W. Bush addresses the Central European Foreign Ministers in the East Room May 8, 2003. "Just hours ago, the United States Senate voted unanimously to support NATO admission for Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia," explained President Bush. "These heroic nations have survived tyranny, they have won their liberty and earned their place among free nations. America has always considered them friends, and we will always be proud to call them allies."
Image Credit: Tina Hager -- White House

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
The U.S. Senate voted today to support NATO admission for seven central and eastern European nations, President Bush said.

During a November summit in Prague, Czech Republic, NATO invited the seven former-communist nations – Estonia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – to join the alliance. But member states must still ratify the expansion.

"It was here, 58 years ago today, that President Harry Truman announced the end of the war in Europe, and the people of America and Europe celebrated that victory together," Bush said today at the White House, flanked by the seven nations' foreign ministers and several high- ranking American dignitaries. "This year on V-E Day we mark another kind of victory in Europe."

Bush explained that the freedom for these seven nations had been subverted as the Iron Curtain rose at the end of World War II. "The defeat of Nazi Germany brought an end to armed conflict in Europe, but that victory did not bring true peace and unity to the continent," he said. "For millions, tyranny remained in a different uniform."

He noted how central and eastern European nations have been steadfast supporters of the war on terrorism and in the "battle of Iraq."
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2003 © U.S. Department of Defense.

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