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<TITLE>Czech Dep. Defense Minister Jaromir Novotny's Speech to 1998 NATO Workshop, Vienna, Austria</TITLE>
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<BODY LINK="0000ff" BGPROPERTIES="FIXED" BGCOLOR="ffffff"><BASEFONT SIZE="3">
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="6" FACE="Palatino">European
Security </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><FONT SIZE="+1">Czech
Deputy Minister of Defense Jaromir Novotny</FONT><A HREF="0_FN0.htm"><SUP></SUP></A>
</FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B>OPENING
REMARKS</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">Throughout
its modern history, the Czech nation often paid a high price for both its
own errors and the failures of European politics. As a result, the
present Czech Republic’s foreign and security policies endorse
initiatives and undertakings in Europe that guarantee continental and
regional security, particularly those that encourage dialogue and
cooperation among democratic countries. Change is coming quickly and
it may continue to do so for decades to come. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">But it is
not only in Europe where change is taking place; the condition is
world-wide. In some regions, the form this change has taken is grave
upheaval. Elsewhere, change is a process characterized by the
regrouping of forces and influences in order to build a global community
based on strong regional foundations. Gradually such change has led
to greater Euro-Atlantic security, including Central European security.
NATO and the CSCE support and maintain this security, as do the
European Union, the Western European Union, and the Council of Europe.
In Europe now, true democracy and international cooperation and
trade exist, and there is no place for threats and conflicts. </FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B>THE
NEED TO ADAPT SECURITY STRUCTURES</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">Because the
forces of global development are many and varied, tension and threats have
not ceased; they have merely assumed a different character. The
second half of the 1990s has been marked by a gradual departure from the
supposed problem-free world-wide security environment that was widely
touted immediately after the end of the Cold War. In reality, the
world still is plagued by countless conflicts and protracted crises,
including growing instability and hostilities resulting from increased
ethnic and religious tensions and the disintegration of states, such as
the conflicts affecting Bosnia-Herzegovina and now Kosovo. Though
much desired, the international community has not yet found efficacious
solutions to these problems. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The case of
Kosovo in particular indicates how much more difficult it has become for
international organizations to cope with new local conflicts. Current
security systems have been found to be not fully applicable, and new
models must be sought that fall somewhere between peacekeeping operations
and peace-enforcing actions. With these new models, military
interventions will most probably take place in a flexible operational
environment, one oscillating between war and peace, military and
non-military operations, and conventional and unconventional frameworks.
Peace operations may even focus on geostrategic regions that were
formerly outside the sphere of interest. European states and
organizations are therefore intensively seeking and constructing an
effective security system that will support the coexistence of various
security institutions based on differing yet compatible and complementary
principles. </FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B><FONT SIZE="+1">The
Strategic Concept</FONT></B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The NATO
summit meeting held in July of 1997 in Madrid confirmed that the
principles and the universality of the Alliance are entirely transferable
from Cold War conditions to those of present-day Europe and those
projected for the future. However, the need to revise NATO’s
Strategic Concept has arisen because of the changes that have taken place
since 1991. These changes include the establishment of new states;
the altered state of several international organizations, including NATO;
and the chaotic emergence of new dangers to European and global security.
</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">Because the
Czech Republic has a vested interest in NATO’s continuing to
guarantee the effective defense of all member-states and their common
democratic values, we acknowledge the need for the Concept’s
revision. The Strategic Concept’s points of departure have
changed, and so the political, economic, military, and security
instruments must be modified, with a view to adapting them to the new
circumstances. An updated Strategic Concept will serve both as a
guideline for the NATO military command in matters regarding the Alliance’s
defense planning and as a public document representing, for all parties
involved, NATO’s goals and tasks at the threshold of the 21st
century. The document should comprise NATO’s accomplishments
subsequent to the year 1991, particularly those aimed at stabilizing the
Euro-Atlantic region, and focus on incorporating the new European security
architecture and the new role being played by NATO. The Concept
should be perceived positively by entities outside the Alliance as well as
those within it. </FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="4" FACE="Palatino"><B>The
Transatlantic Link and Enlargement</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The
transatlantic link—including an integrated military structure and the
deployment of U.S. forces in Europe—continues to be indispensable for
the Alliance. We must therefore further intensify relations within
NATO, as well as strive for a broader Alliance security role. Additionally
we should acknowledge the new roles Russia and Ukraine are playing in the
European security climate, the Permanent Joint Council, and the
strengthened Partnership for Peace program within the context of the
Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. With the work of so many, wider
access to security will become even more important and will expand the
possibilities for dialogue and cooperation. The Alliance’s
adaptation to post-Cold War conditions constitutes one of the most
substantial changes in the Euro-Atlantic region. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The Czech
Republic regards the decision to admit three new countries to NATO as part
of this continuing adaptation. The end of the Cold War and the major
changes that took place during the early 1990s provided a new opportunity
for European integration, both in the economic and security spheres.
We welcome the fact that NATO is no longer a military and defense
union solely for Western Europe and that it is converting to a security
and cooperation institution for the entire Euro-Atlantic area. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">This fact
has been substantiated by the Founding Act on Mutual Relations,
Cooperation, and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation, and by
the Charter on Special Partnership between Ukraine and NATO. These
new models of institutionalized relations enable both the Russian
Federation and Ukraine to become more closely engaged in consultations on
measures to be adopted regarding European security policy. </FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B>THE
IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The
Partnership for Peace program is a prominent part of this new policy, and
has become the most successful cooperative security project of the
post-Cold War world. The new democracies’ participation in
Partnership for Peace and the prospect of intensifying their collaboration
with NATO have encouraged these countries to continue along the path of
democratic reform, and to meet the requirements for full integration with
NATO. We support the goals of expanding the Partnership’s
framework beyond that of peacekeeping operations, of better utilizing its
facilities to prepare for Alliance–non-member missions, and of
providing its participants with a greater decision-making role. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">No less
significant is a broader access to security-policy decision making. The
Czech Republic has been utilizing this access by, among other things,
making use of the possibilities offered by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
Council (EAPC), which is supported by the Partnership for Peace program
and joint peacekeeping operations. The Czech Republic has also
demonstrated the importance it ascribes to the Alliance’s new
missions by participating in IFOR and SFOR operations. We are
convinced that the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and Partnership for
Peace should play a more prominent role in stabilizing the situation and
strengthening the confidence in Southeastern Europe, especially in the
Kosovo region. </FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B>GREATER
ROLES FOR EU, WEU, AND CSCE</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">At a time
when less emphasis is being placed on the military aspects of security and
more on its non-military dimensions—above all, economic and social
security—we expect that the European Union will acquire ever-greater
importance. Expanding the sphere of economic stability to include
Central and Eastern Europe can create the conditions necessary for
strengthening the security of populations and thereby the security of
states and regions. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">Similarly,
the role of the Western European Union is becoming more significant with
the prospect of NATO expansion. Allocating NATO funds for operations
carried out by the Western European Union will support the European
Security and Defense Identity (ESDI). The Czech Republic believes
that in turn the ESDI will provide the Alliance with greater flexibility
as well as strengthen the European element’s role in preserving
security, particularly throughout Europe. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">This process
is a concern of the Czech Republic. It is in our country’s
interest to ensure that, in the course of this process, the transatlantic
link does not become weakened. So far, fortunately, American and
European security interests have remained interconnected. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The Czech
Republic believes that the ESDI will enable the Western European Union to
prepare for operations and that it will help to assess the capability and
will of the Union to act. Therefore, the Czech Republic considers it
necessary to further strengthen the WEU’s operational capacities to
ensure its full political and military control over operations headed by
Europeans, and to facilitate increased participation by the nations of the
Western European Union in the Union’s activities concerning
preparations for European operations. Preparations for CRISEX 98
clearly show that the Western European Union is involving its partners in
exercises. The Combined Joint Task Forces concept also establishes
the prerequisites for WEU guidance and strategic management in future
operations. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">It is our
conviction that the CSCE is also securing a new position within the new
European security architecture. The Czech Republic greatly
appreciates the role of the CSCE and the deliberations on a European
security model for the 21st century that are taking place within its
framework. We consider it important that the CSCE is focusing on
preventive diplomacy, especially the mechanisms of early warning, the
avoidance of conflicts, the solving of crises, and post-crisis
restoration. We are interested in fulfilling and further
intensifying the obligations and principles determined within the CSCE
framework, including ensuring transparency in the military sphere. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The Czech
Republic views the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, with its
systems of information exchange, verification, and the continuous
specification of procedures, as a major component of the security
infrastructure. The current adaptation of this document, which
supports security in the applicable zone by initially reducing and later
maintaining conventional armaments in agreed-to numbers and deployments,
should remain a functioning security model in the next century. </FONT>
</P>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino"><B>CONCLUDING
REMARKS</B> </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT COLOR="000000" SIZE="3" FACE="Palatino">The
transformations that we are currently witnessing are evidence of the
rapprochement of many parts of Europe. This coming together in turn
is providing a positive beginning for future European policy. In its
newly strong state, Europe will be better able to work toward global
cooperation and dynamic global interdependence. This is why we must
continue to engage in dialogue, cooperation, and partnership and to
respect each state’s fundamental democratic values.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><A HREF="novotny98.htm">Go to Top of Page</A></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><A HREF="workshop98.htm">Return to Vienna '98</A></P>
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<P ALIGN="LEFT">Copyright © 1998 Center for Strategic Decision
Research</P>
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