For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 12, 2004
Message to the Senate of the United States
To the Senate of the United States:
With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to
ratification, I transmit herewith the Protocol Between the Government
of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of
Estonia to the Treaty for the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection
of Investment of April 19, 1994, signed at Brussels on October 24,
2003. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report
of the Department of State with respect to this Protocol.
I have already forwarded to the Senate similar Protocols for
Romania and Bulgaria and now forward simultaneously to the Senate
Protocols for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
and the Slovak Republic. Each of these Protocols is the result of an
understanding the United States reached with the European Commission
and these six countries that will join the European Union (EU) on May
1, 2004, as well as with Bulgaria and Romania, which are expected to
join the EU in 2007.
The understanding is designed to preserve U.S. bilateral investment
treaties (BITs) with each of these countries after their accession to
the EU by establishing a framework acceptable to the European
Commission for avoiding or remedying present and possible future
incompatibilities between their BIT obligations and their future
obligations of EU membership. It expresses the U.S. intent to amend
the U.S. BITs, including the BIT with Estonia, in order to eliminate
incompatibilities between certain BIT obligations and EU law. It also
establishes a framework for addressing any future incompatibilities
that may arise as EU authority in the area of investment expands in the
future, and endorses the principle of protecting existing U.S.
investments from any future EU measures that may restrict foreign
investment in the EU.
The United States has long championed the benefits of an open
investment climate, both at home and abroad. It is the policy of the
United States to welcome market-driven foreign investment and to permit
capital to flow freely to seek its highest return. This Protocol
preserves the U.S. BIT with Estonia, with which the United States has
an expanding relationship, and the protections it affords U.S.
investors even after Estonia joins the EU. Without it, the European
Commission would likely require Estonia to terminate its U.S. BIT upon
accession because of existing and possible future incompatibilities
between our current BIT and EU law.
I recommend that the Senate consider this Protocol as soon as
possible, and give its advice and consent to ratification at an early
date.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 12, 2004.
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