Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of North Macedonia's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

North Macedonia's path to NATO accession has been a long one. Despite being regarded early on as a leading candidate for NATO membership, Macedonia's name dispute with Greece became a huge roadblock. A disagreement over a country's name may not seem like a big deal to those looking in from the outside, but getting over this hurdle required significant political courage.

In 2017, Greece's Prime Minister Tsipras and Macedonia's Prime Minister Zaev displayed that level of political courage when they committed to settle the nearly three decades-long dispute. Because of their leadership, these two nations signed the Prespa agreement last year. Greece agreed to remove its objection and approve Macedonia's accession to NATO in exchange for Macedonia agreeing to change its name to North Macedonia.

This dispute resolution between Greece and North Macedonia demonstrates that NATO is not only an effective defensive alliance, but it has been a tremendous force for stability in Europe. North Macedonia is poised to soon become NATO's 30th member because it worked to resolve a longstanding bilateral disagreement.

I support NATO's longstanding open-door policy, and I hope that the goal of NATO membership will continue to guide other aspirants to solve longstanding disputes, fight corruption, and make difficult necessary domestic reforms.

Beyond North Macedonia's accession, I would like to speak more broadly on how important the NATO alliance is to the United States. NATO is based on the principle of collective defense. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an attack against one member is an attack against us all.

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg detailed NATO's value when he addressed a joint meeting of Congress earlier this year and both started and ended his speech by saying: ``It is good to have friends.'' I couldn't agree more.

In the wake of the attacks of 9/11, our friends, our NATO allies, invoked article 5 for the first and only time in the alliance's history. Our NATO allies and many of the aspirants stood shoulder to shoulder with us in Afghanistan. They lost 1,000 of their sons and daughters in honoring their commitment by fighting alongside us. The United States should never forget our NATO allies' contribution and sacrifice.

A strong NATO alliance is just as important and relevant today as it was at its founding in 1949. I am pleased that the full Senate is taking up this measure to approve North Macedonia's accession to NATO, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor with a resounding yes.

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