WASHINGTON – Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and Co-Chairman Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), will hold a hearing entitled “NATO Enlargement and the Bucharest Summit,” on Tuesday, March 4 at 3:00 p.m. in room B-318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The hearing will examine enlargement issues for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in light of the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania. Currently, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hope for invitations to join the alliance, while Ukraine and Georgia expect to be offered Membership Action Plans. The hearing will assess the readiness of these countries to take next steps in their respective integration paths, with a particular focus on their democratic development and respect for the rule of law.
Testifying before the Commission will be:
Dr. Michael Haltzel, Senior Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University
The Honorable Steven Pifer, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Senior Adviser, Russia and Eurasia Program Center for Strategic and International Studies
Mr. Janusz Bugajski, Director, New European Democracies Project and Senior Fellow, Europe Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
