For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 21, 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 Additional Protocol Between the
United States of America and the Republic of Bulgaria amending the
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Republic of
Bulgaria Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of
Investment of September 23, 1992, signed at Brussels on September 22,
2003. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report
of the Department of State with respect to this Additional Protocol.
My Administration has already forwarded to the Senate a similar
Additional Protocol for Romania and expects to forward to the Senate
shortly Additional Protocols for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, and the Slovak Republic. Each of these Additional
Protocols is the result of an under-standing the United States reached
with the European Commission and six countries that will join the
European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004 (the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Slovak Republic), 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 Bulgaria, 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 European Union 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 Additional
Protocol preserves the U.S. BIT with Bulgaria, with which the United
States has an expanding relationship, and the protections it affords
U.S. investors even after Bulgaria joins the EU. Without it, the
European Commission would likely require Bulgaria 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 Additional Protocol as
soon as possible, and give its advice and consent to ratification at an
early date.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 21, 2004.
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