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<TITLE>NATO Secretary General Willy Claes...NATO and European Security</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+4">NATO and European Security</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+3">NATO Secretary General
Willy Claes</FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">This year's NATO Workshop is the
first at which I am able to speak in my role as Secretary General,
although the dynamism and creativity of the Workshops are well known.
While it is rare that politicians, officials, and business people come
together informally to discuss and exchange views on the topics we are
considering, when they do the results are always valuable. Therefore, I am
grateful for the opportunity to address such a wide and influential group
as the Workshop, and I hope my remarks are able to spark its discussions.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">I believe that NATO is entering
one of the most crucial periods of its history. I say this in a positive
sense. Four years ago, we agreed on a new Strategic Concept for our forces
and set out a policy of cooperation and partnership with our new friends
in Central and Eastern Europe. We can see now how far-sighted and
far-reaching these decisions were. Today, we are reaping what we sowed
then. It is a fine harvest.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">I would like to direct my
remarks to three key issues: NATO's relations with Partnership for Peace
(PFP) Partners; the European security and defense identity; and the
current situation in the former Yugoslavia. These topics will define, I
believe, the character of the European security environment into the next
century.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">NATO'S RELATIONS WITH
ITS PARTNERS</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">When I assumed office last year,
I said that NATO's first task should be to extend stability eastward. Our
main instrument for doing this is our practical cooperation programs with
our Partners. In the past four years, we have seen a growing
intensification of NATO's outreach. We started with dialogue, moved into
cooperation through the North Atlantic Cooperation Council and Partnership
for Peace, and are now heading for enlargement.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Partnership for Peace in
particular has given new dynamism and direction to our cooperation. The
program, which includes 26 Partners of widely varying security backgrounds
and aims, has already become a milestone in the realization of our
ambition of a stable and cooperative Europe. As such, it is truly a
strategic initiative.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">As we move toward enlarging the
Alliance, the importance of PFP will increase, not decrease, because the
program is both a means to prepare countries to join NATO and a strong
link to the Alliance for those countries not likely to join NATO soon. The
fact that Russia has agreed to go forward with its Individual Partnership
Program confirms the long-term importance of PFP for the development of
NATO's relations with Russia as well.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We want Russia to develop in a
positive, democratic way, even though this may take a long time and
involve great difficulties. A democratic Russia with a developed free
market economy will be a significant plus for European security. As part
of the legacy of the Cold War, there is still some distrust in Russia of
the West, distrust that could be exploited by factions that wish to
recreate Russia's authoritarian and assertive past. We believe that the
closer our consultation and cooperation with Russia become--and I am
convinced they will become closer--the less room there will be for
mistrust and misunderstanding.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">When we agreed with Russia
recently to move ahead with PFP, we also agreed to implement an ambitious
program beyond PFP. In addition, NATO Foreign Ministers offered to
initiate a dialogue on the future direction that our relationship should
take. We hope to achieve by the end of this year a political framework for
NATO-Russia relations, elaborating basic principles for security
cooperation as well as for the development of mutual political
consultations.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">We are also moving steadily
towards another phase in NATO's relationship with Partners: the admission
of new members. Last December we began a study to determine how NATO will
enlarge and to explain why it should enlarge. This study will be completed
as scheduled this autumn. Partners will be briefed on the conclusions and
respond before NATO Foreign Ministers meet in Brussels in December.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Our objective is to enhance
security for all countries in Europe, without creating new dividing lines.
As a result, admission of new members will come at the end of an open,
gradual, and transparent process. No new members have yet been designated:
much work, both by Allies and Partners, must be done before we get to that
stage. When it does happen, NATO's enlargement will not represent an
isolated development, but be part of a wider context in which Partnership
for Peace is a permanent fixture in European security cooperation, and in
which NATO itself continues to change and adapt.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">NATO's enlargement will also
complement the enlargement of the European Union (EU). These parallel
enlargement processes will contribute significantly to extending security
and stability to the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. For
the first time in their history, these countries can look forward to being
part of functioning, successful political, economic, and security systems.
This participation will give them the confidence and incentive needed to
complete their transition to modern, economically and politically dynamic
societies under the rule of law.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">NATO AND THE EUROPEAN
SECURITY AND DEFENSE IDENTITY</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">NATO has already played an
indispensable role in the European integration process. For over four
decades, the organization has provided a protective umbrella for a Western
Europe striving towards economic and, eventually, political union.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Today, the European Union is a
reality, and now is in the process of developing a distinct common foreign
and security policy. Our goal is to continue to foster Europe's
integration, not by protecting, as we did, the EU's early growth, but by
furthering its development so there is an efficient use of resources and
preservation of the transatlantic link. That is why the NATO Summit
leaders in January 1994 supported the emergence of a European security and
defense identity.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">NATO is more than an interested
spectator in this process. A strong European defense pillar allows for a
more appropriate sharing of burdens across the Atlantic. We are in the
process of examining how our structures should be changed to reflect the
reality of a more ambitious Europe concerning its security. At the NATO
Summit, our leaders offered to make NATO assets available through the
Western European Union (WEU). And, together with the WEU, we are working
on the concept of Combined Joint Task Forces that could be used for crisis
response by NATO or the WEU. Of course, any European decision to act
drawing on Alliance assets would be subject to decisions within the
Alliance. In this way, we would retain the effective transatlantic
framework that has secured our interests so successfully and strengthen
the European pillar of the Alliance.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">SITUATION IN THE FORMER
YUGOSLAVIA</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">I believe that today we are
entering a new phase in the conflict in this area. I hesitate to use the
phrase "turning point" because, as yet, we cannot see any
indication that those fighting on the ground, particularly the Bosnian
Serbs, see any point in making peace. Peace will come only when the
prospective gains from a peace settlement and the horrendous costs of
continued fighting convince the conflicting parties that war is not a
viable option. I do not think we have reached that point yet.
Nevertheless, with the large-scale taking of hostages and the U.N. Rapid
Reaction Force, the nature of the U.N. presence in the area is changing.
Faced with a choice of withdrawal or continuation, countries that have
contributed troops have decided to stay and to reinforce U.N. Protection
Forces (UNPROFOR), always under the U.N. mandate. Once U.N. peace forces
are capable of defending themselves and demonstrate that they cannot be
manipulated or intimidated, the Bosnian Serbs will realize, we hope, the
hopelessness and futility of their position. Then they will, as the
Americans say, stop calling the shots.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">When the Bosnian Serbs took U.N.
hostages and shot at NATO aircraft, they grossly miscalculated. I hope
that they are beginning to realize this and to get a glimpse of their own
weakness. By persisting in their mission, the U.N. will provide a powerful
signal to the Bosnian Serbs and the other warring parties that they have
no option except to resume peace negotiations on the basis of the Contact
Group plan. Recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Serbia will further
isolate the Bosnian Serbs. In our policy towards Bosnia, all arguments
point to persistence, rather than withdrawal.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+1">CONCLUSION</FONT></FONT></B></CENTER>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">While we are now reaping the
harvest we sowed a few years ago, we are not forgetting to plant seeds for
a future harvest. We have just opened a dialogue with several
Mediterranean countries to exchange ideas and perspectives. This is likely
to grow in significance. We are also stepping up our work on
nonproliferation, both in the political and defense spheres. The Alliance
will remain one that can defend its members against threats to their
security. Careful preparation now will save us from intimidation later.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">None of this would be possible,
of course, without a strong transatlantic link. It is clear that North
American commitment to Europe is as necessary today as ever before. In
economic and cultural terms, the U.S. and Canada are inextricably linked
with Europe. Under NATO's umbrella, Western Europe and North America have
developed a level of interdependence and mutual support that is
unparalleled elsewhere in the world. With the opening up of Central and
Eastern Europe, U.S. involvement in Europe continues to grow.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+0">Whatever may develop in the
years to come, there is one certainty: NATO will remain the main
institutional anchor for a United States presence in and a commitment to
Europe. The Alliance is an irreplaceable forum for transatlantic
consultations; its unique combination of political and military experience
and expertise means that it will remain the prime security forum of the
Allies. What counts in the final analysis is that North Americans and
Europeans continue to need each other and see immense benefit in their
strong transatlantic link, which is embodied in the Alliance.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
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