09 December 1999
(Adapted treaty is "a cornerstone of European security") (634) The Department of State on December 9 issued the following fact sheet addressing the adaptation of the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty: The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty has been a cornerstone of European military stability since its signature in 1990. Adaptation of the CFE Treaty has been an integral part of our European security strategy since the May 1996 CFE Review Conference when the U.S. and its Allies agreed to update the Treaty to take account of changes that had occurred in Europe since CFE was signed. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, the Treaty's two-group structure (16 NATO allies on the one hand, and former Warsaw Pact countries on the other) became obsolete. Updating the Treaty took on added importance with the decision to enlarge NATO. Adaptation was needed to ensure that both old and new NATO allies could transfer among each other the right to hold specific amounts of equipment under the Treaty. Politically, the process of adaptation has played a pivotal role in managing Russian concerns and expectations regarding NATO enlargement, through both the Madrid and Washington NATO Summits. NATO allies addressed deeply-held Russian concerns by accepting provisions in CFE which demonstrated that NATO did not contemplate a massive eastward shift in peacetime military potential as a result of enlargement. But this remains a very "NATO-friendly" Treaty. The "Agreement on Adaptation" not only benefits the U.S. but also was strongly supported by our allies and Treaty partners. Key benefits are highlighted below: -- The adapted Treaty completes the unfinished business of putting Cold War Europe's dividing lines behind us. The fact that we are ensuring the long-term viability of the central elements of European arms control as a means of strengthening a stable peace is important to our allies. -- The Treaty is good for NATO. It ensures that there are no second-class allies, and that there are no arms control constraints that could block NATO enlargement. It also protects NATO's essential military flexibility to deal with a range of possible requirements, from military exercises to crisis management. -- The adapted Treaty retains special limits on Russian forces in the flank region. This was critical for our allies, Turkey and Norway, and for Russia's neighbors, such as Georgia and Moldova, and Azerbaijan. Our allies took the lead in crafting provisions, which grant Russia additional flexibility on its flank territory, while requiring reductions in Russian forces located outside its borders. -- Enhanced transparency provisions will result in significantly more information on military forces, and the number of on-site inspections will be increased to provide for enhanced capabilities to track forces in the current security environment. -- The adapted Treaty enhances regional stability and underscores the sovereignty of Russia's neighbors by strengthening the requirements for host nation consent to the presence of foreign forces. The requirement for notifications to all parties as to whether consent has been granted is a key provision for a number of non-NATO states, especially Moldova and Georgia. These states also were able to reach bilateral agreements with Russia on force withdrawals, referenced in the politically binding CFE Final Act, a document associated with the Adaptation Agreement, and in the OSCE Summit Declaration. -- The adapted Treaty allows for accession by other European states, thus opening the possibility of extending this stable security regime throughout Europe. Without adaptation, the current CFE Treaty would atrophy. The stability, transparency, and predictability provided by CFE have made it a cornerstone of European security. (end Fact Sheet) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State)