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<TITLE>László Kovács</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+3">The
Ultimate Removal of the Reminiscences of Yalta</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+2">Foreign
Minister of Hungary Dr. László Kovács</FONT></FONT></FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="+2"> </FONT></FONT></FONT>
</CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">I am honored to tell you
that this is the fourth time that I have attended a NATO Workshop. When I
received my first invitation in 1990, I was an opposition member of the
first democratically elected Hungarian parliament. Then, in 1993, we
Hungarians hosted the NATO Workshop. Last year I participated in the
Workshop in Poland, and this year's Workshop is my fourth. Twice I
attended a Workshop as an opposition MP and twice as Minister of Foreign
Affairs. Quite a lot has changed since I first participated, not only for
Hungary but for the Alliance and the entire security environment.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">The Yalta Agreement served
only as a cradle of bipolarity, reflecting the spheres of interest that
limited the operation of smaller countries and deprived the Central and
Eastern European countries of their sovereignty, forcing them into a
military bloc dominated by the Soviet Union. Yalta sharply divided Europe,
a continent built on common history and on a common cultural heritage.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">During the decades of
bipolarity--those of the Cold War and then those of détente--security
was predominantly a military concept. Security in the time of bipolarity
was based on the balance of strategic nuclear forces, on the balance of
the two global powers' overkill capabilities, and on mutual deterrence. It
was a zero-sum game, since the security of either side could be
strengthened only to the detriment of the other. Yalta antagonized the
whole of Europe for decades, but the real victims were the Central and
Eastern European countries, which were forced to accept Soviet dominance,
the Soviet economic model, and the Communist ideology.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">It was the Soviet Union
that forced the Central and Eastern European countries to refuse the
Marshall Plan, resulting in decades-long economic stagnation and in a low
level of competition that preserved the obsolete economic structure of the
region. Finally, however, gradual changes in the balance of forces between
the United States and the Soviet Union, the process of détente, a
freer flow of people and ideas exposed the Central and Eastern European
countries to the effects of freedom, democracy, a market economy, and
national independence. The will and determination of the people of Central
and Eastern Europe swept the bipolar system away. The Soviet Union, the
Warsaw Pact, the Comecon, and the Berlin Wall have all collapsed.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">SECURITY TODAY</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">With bipolarity gone, we
no longer face the threat of world war, of global nuclear conflict. And
security is no longer a predominantly military category. Non-military
elements, such as political, economic, social, human, and minority rights
as well as environmental factors are becoming more and more important.
Security is no longer based on mutual deterrence but on cooperation. It is
also no longer a zero-sum game, but dynamic, flexible, and always on the
move.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">There are, however, new
security risks for Central and Eastern Europe to face. Some are of a
general nature, such as organized crime, drug trafficking, international
terrorism, pollution, and weapons proliferation. Others are specific to a
region: difficulties of economic transition; social tensions that act as a
hotbed for extremist tendencies, both on the right and on the left; a lack
of or a low level of democratic traditions; the surfacing of radical,
aggressive, nationalists violating the rights of minorities or fomenting
ethnic cleansing; and border challenges that can result in inter-ethnic or
inter-state conflicts and in mass migration. Consequently, only a few
years after the formal collapse of the Yalta system and the end of the
bipolar world order, a new division may take shape in Europe--a division,
this time, between a secure, stable, and prosperous Western Europe and an
unpredictable Eastern Europe lacking security and stability, facing
enormous economic problems, social tensions, and potential ethnic
conflicts. The crisis in the former Yugoslavia, the tragic war in Bosnia
proved that the lack of security in the East and the South can affect
stability in the West and the North. So the new security risks must be
properly addressed for the sake of the entire continent.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">THE BEST RESPONSE TO
THE RISK OF A NEW DIVISION</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">The most efficient, the
most cost-effective, and the most complete response to the dangers of this
possible new division is the enlargement of the Euro-Atlantic community,
the enlargement of NATO, and the enlargement of the European Union.
Hungary welcomes the Madrid NATO Summit that will start the process of
enlargement, and welcomes the Amsterdam EU Summit that confirmed that
talks on accession would begin in January 1998.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Enlargement</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Enlargement is a process
that should continue to move forward step by step. Accession to NATO will
be based on shared values and the specified criteria, values that must not
be merely verbally supported but implemented while the accession criteria
are being met. But the gradual enlargement of NATO must not result in a
new division. The Madrid Summit must explicitly state that the process of
enlargement is open-ended; the first wave will be followed by others.
Applicant countries that do not yet qualify should receive a clear message
stating what they must do and what they must accomplish in order to
qualify for the next round of enlargement.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Support and
Assistance</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">NATO should support and
help those countries that want to join the Alliance to meet the accession
criteria. The North Atlantic Cooperation Council has provided an effective
framework for dialogue between NATO members and the Central and Eastern
European countries that has helped us to learn what NATO expects from
applicants. PFP has also helped the applicant countries to meet the
criteria of membership and to prepare for accession. Now the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council will involve applicant countries even more closely and
more effectively in joint activities between NATO and its Partners. The
Council will also have a new role after the process of enlargement starts:
preventing any division between the expanding Alliance and the Partner
countries--between the old, the new, and the would-be members of NATO.</FONT></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">An enlarging NATO will
certainly fit into the new, now-emerging, all-European security
architecture. This all-European security architecture will be based on the
principle of indivisibility of security, as well as on the complexity of
security, including both military and non-military elements. The major
building blocks of this all-European security architecture will be (a)
expanding Euro-Atlantic and European institutions such as NATO, the
European Union, the Western European Union, and the Council of Europe; (b)
the special relationship between the enlarging NATO and countries such as
the Russian Federation and the Ukraine; (c) the regional structures of
cooperation such as the Central European Initiative, the Baltic Sea
Agreement, the Black Sea Cooperation, the Central European Free Trade
Association, and the South European Cooperation Initiative, all of which
contribute to stability; (d) the bilateral arrangements such as the basic
treaties between Hungary and its neighbors and other countries, and the
European stability that has given multilateral dimensions as well as more
political weight to these bilateral treaties; and (e) the OSCE, the only
pan-European structure with more than 50 member-states.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Inter-Institution
Relationships</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">As far as relations
between the various security structures and institutions are concerned, we
should avoid overlapping and rivalry. The pervading principle should be
cooperation on the basis of comparative advantages. Each and every
institution has some specific advantage that the others do not have. NATO
has the military potential that can make peace when necessary, as it did
in Bosnia. The European Union has the ability to contribute to economic
stability and prosperity. The Council of Europe has a unique record and
rich experience working for human rights and minority rights, and has
established standards and norms that help to prevent ethnic tensions and
conflicts. The regional structures and bilateral arrangements have the
ability to contribute to stability through cooperation. And, last but not
least, the OSCE has an effective crisis-prevention, crisis-management, and
post-conflict rehabilitation mechanism that has been tested and proved in
Chechnya and in other trouble spots in the former Soviet Union and in the
former Yugoslavia, particularly in Bosnia.</FONT></FONT> </P>
<CENTER>
<H4><B><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">CONCLUDING REMARKS</FONT></FONT></B></H4></CENTER>
<P><FONT FACE="Palatino"><FONT COLOR="#000000">To conclude, I want to
stress that enlarging NATO--extending and strengthening cooperation with
would-be members and Partners--will fit perfectly in the now-emerging
all-European security architecture; contribute to the ultimate removal of
the reminiscences of the Yalta Agreement; prevent any new continental
division from occurring; and contribute to the unification of Europe on
its basis of common history, common cultural heritage, shared values, and
common interest in security, stability, prosperity, and a democratic world
order.</FONT></FONT> </P>
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