The leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives sent greetings to the Vilnius Group of ten countries that are candidates for NATO membership. Their letter was made public during the March 25-26 Bucharest Conference, "The Spring of New Allies."

Senator Tom Daschle and Representative Trent Lott thanked the countries for their support in the war on terrorism and also noted that there is bipartisan congressional support for NATO enlargement. "We urge you and your colleagues to continue to work hard and devote the necessary resources to making your countries the strongest possible candidates," they wrote.

"The terrorist attacks of September 11th have only underscored the need to consolidate the peace on the continent so that North America and Europe can focus their energies on the new threats of the 21st century," Daschle and Lott added.

Following is the letter:

United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

March 20, 2002

His Excellency Adrian Nastase
Prime Minister
1, Victoriei Square
District 1 Bucharest, ROMANIA

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

We write to congratulate you on convening this important meeting with the other Prime Ministers of Europe's new democracies. It is an important stepping stone to the NATO summit in Prague next November.

At a time when the United States and its allies are engaged in a global war on terrorism, we are grateful for the support that you and your colleagues have provided. Americans remember who their true friends and allies are at times of war. The threat we face is a shared one, and we appreciate and value the substantial political, economic and military contributions that the countries represented in Bucharest are making to the coalition effort in Afghanistan and around the world. You are demonstrating in practice that you want to be allies of the United States. It is indeed a "Spring of New Allies."

At the NATO Summit in Prague in November, Alliance heads-of-state will be making an important decision about continuing the process of NATO enlargement. We want to take this opportunity to reiterate that NATO enlargement has enjoyed and continues to enjoy bipartisan support in the United States Senate. It is an issue that unites Democrats and Republicans.

We therefore look forward to the Prague summit and the opportunity to take the next step in building a Europe whole and free in alliance with the United States. We urge you and your colleagues to continue to work hard and devote the necessary resources to making your countries the strongest possible candidates. As President Bush put it in Warsaw last June, our vision is to extend the zone of democracy and security to as many qualified countries as possible from the Baltic to the Black Sea, including, as our allies in Greece and Turkey have argued, the important Southern dimension. The terrorist attacks of September 11th have only underscored the need to consolidate the peace on the continent so that North America and Europe can focus their energies on the new threats of the 21st century.

Mr. Prime Minister, once again, we commend you and your colleagues for your contributions to a strong, dynamic and more secure North Atlantic community. Working together we are confident that we can attain our collective vision of a Europe whole and free.

Tom Daschle [Majority Leader of the Senate]

Trent Lott [Speaker of the House of Representatives]

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)