Washington – A bipartisan group of senators announced on Wednesday a revival of a group that oversaw the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to former socialist bloc countries Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic and helped to revise the treaty in 1999 to reflect those changes.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina made the announcement on Capitol Hill to re-establish the Senate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Observer Group. The observer group was first established in 1997 but became largely inactive since 2007 because of an end to NATO’s expansion policy.
Republican and Democratic senators now want to revive the group to strength ties between NATO member countries and the Senate to respond to threats to NATO countries following Russia’s expansion into the Middle East after the Syrian war and annexation of the Ukraine and Crimea more recently.
Ukraine applied for membership in NATO in 2008, but then withdrew its application after a pro-Russian politician, Viktor Yanukovych, was elected president in 2010.
“Now more than ever, it’s imperative that the United States work closely with NATO to respond to the ever-evolving threats to western democracies, particularly from the Kremlin,” Shaheen said. “This new Senate NATO Observer Group will serve as a focal point for engagement between NATO and the Senate as these institutions seek to strengthen transatlantic bonds and modernize NATO to respond to hybrid warfare and other threats”.
Shaheen and Tillis will co-chair the Observer Group, which – among other things — will serve to inform senators about defense spending commitments of NATO members. President Donald Trump spurred consternation among European allies last year by repeatedly complaining that NATO members weren’t spending enough on regional military security compared to the U.S.
In addition to NATO’s potential for further expansion, the group will also monitor the military capabilities of NATO member states to address conventional warfare and their anti-terrorism preparations against terror groups. The NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Wes Mitchell, also took part in the press conference.
“In today’s day and age, we face an endless amount of threats, both known and unknown,” Tillis said.“I look forward to using the platform of the NATO Observer Group to discuss how our alliance can better prepare for hybrid, and in particular, cyber threats from Russia and other adversaries.”
“I believe the reconstitution of this Observers Group demonstrates the deep and bipartisan support the Alliance enjoys across our nation.” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO and a former Republican senator from Texas, said in a statement. “NATO remains the most successful security alliance in history. ”