ON JULY 1, 2003, the United States suspended military aid to more than thirty nations, among which were six of the seven countries scheduled to join NATO next year. With the exception of Romania, the other countries so recently lionized as "New Europe"--including the three Baltic states, as well as Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria--have refused to sign the pledge giving immunity to U.S. military personnel and civilians serving abroad from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).1 U.S. efforts to sign bilateral agreements with new NATO member-states have been stymied by pressure being exerted on these states in their roles as EU candidate countries. Indeed, on June 24, the EU Presidency issued a statement declaring that prospective members are expected to follow the official EU position on the ICC. It is certainly true that the amounts of foreign military aid the United States earmarked for these countries in FY2003 and 2004 are relatively small in terms of the overall U.S. defense budget. (Latvia, for example, was only to receive around $3 million this year.) Nevertheless, these funds represent vital "seed monies" for integrating the defense ministries of these NATO candidate countries with the institution's force structures.
