Article in "NATO's Sixteen Nations" Mar. 1997

"NATO - A Reliable Alliance for Dynamism and Leadership" By Javier Solana Introduction: A New NATO In A New Europe In the months ahead, the project of building a new European security architecture will be making a major leap forward. In July, NATO's Madrid Summit will bring years of adaptation and preparation to a culminating point. The fact that NATO could achieve so much progress is due to the fact that NATO has maintained the cohesion it displayed so visibly during earlier decades. Yes, we had our share of difficulties, as was painfully obvious during the earlier phase of our involvement in Bosnia. But never did we lose sight of one fundamental truth: namely, that our security is best served by all Allies continuing to work together; that we can only cope with the challenges of an increasingly complex world if North America and Europe act in concert. It is this fundamental truth that has made our Alliance more than just a treaty organisation, but a real security community. The dynamism of that security community has become most visible in Bosnia. NATO has played a key role in putting together the Implementation Force - a unique coalition for peace. Clearly, long-term peace and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be imposed from outside. Yet at least we are creating the level of stability necessary to initiate the reconstruction of these shattered societies. IFOR and its replacement, the Stabilisation Force (SFOR), did not come out of nowhere. They are the result of a new, cooperative approach to European security - an approach NATO has helped inspire and consolidate. In Bosnia, we see the fruits of this new approach where we have, through cooperation with other countries and other institutions, managed to take the crisis down to manageable levels. Ultimately, however, the goal of cooperation must reach beyond coming together in a crisis. We must strive to prevent future crises from erupting in the first place. This means that we must continue the task of building a cooperative European security order in which all European organisations having a role to play in security are included, and in which no country is excluded. At the heart of this effort is an Alliance that has well and truly adapted itself to the changed security environment in the Europe of today, both internally and externally. The Madrid Summit will mark a milestone in NATO's adaptation. Let me set out the challenges ahead. A new Command Structure For almost four decades, NATO's command structure was geared towards organising a line of defence of NATO territory from Northern Norway to Eastern Turkey. Such scenarios of the threat of an invasion of Western Europe from a hostile Warsaw Pact, fortunately, need no longer concern us. However, new challenges, exemplified by Bosnia, have arisen - challenges which require us to respond effectively and rapidly. That is why NATO is developing a new military command structure better adapted to the new challenges of managing crises. The outlines of a new structure should be agreed at, or before, the Summit. Its implementation will proceed soon after. Much has already been agreed. The new structure will be smaller, and will contain two important innovations. The first is the introduction of the Combined Joint Task Forces concept. This will provide the Alliance for the first time with an expressly organised capability to deploy a peacekeeping force into a crisis area. Most significantly, from the outset, CJTFs are designed to operate with the participation of non-NATO countries. The second innovation in the new structure is the growing role and responsibility of the European Allies within it as we develop the European Security and Defence Identity within NATO. We want to develop a visible European arrangement within the structure, which could be used for operations led by the Western European Union. Spain has already decided to participate fully in the structure, and France is moving closer, too. The purpose of the restructuring is to create greater flexibility, particularly for responding to crises. In future, NATO will continue to be fully capable of fulfilling all its missions. Without doubt, for any major threat to the Alliance, NATO will take the lead in responding. Yet, it is also possible that some operations, by virtue of their size or location, might be best launched by the WEU with NATO's help. We want to build that additional option - a European-led, WEU-directed operation - into our new structure, one which will also ensure the participation of all European Allies if they were so to choose. The development of such a European option within NATO is not driven by a desire to replace NATO with a European defence system, much less by a desire to reduce the United States' role in Europe. But we cannot predict all possible contingencies, and we should not tie ourselves to one organisational response. Sharing the European security burden with the United States means that there may be times when a European-led force will be appropriate. That is why an ESDI will be developed within the Alliance, and therefore with the United States. Inviting New Members At the Summit, we will also invite one or more countries to start accession negotiations with the Alliance. As our Foreign Ministers agreed at their December meeting, our goal is to be able to welcome the new members in 1999. The opening of NATO should be seen - and appreciated - for what it is: a natural part of the wider process of European integration, a means of reinforcing in the new democracies the confidence in their destiny and respond to their sense of belonging. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe want to join the Alliance for the same reasons the current members do not want to leave it. Opening up NATO will help solve one of the perennial sources of instability on this continent. In Central and Eastern Europe historical memories of partition and abandonment figure prominently in contemporary thinking. It is difficult to see how this region can develop in hope and confidence without being anchored to the stable, established democratic organisations of the West. To keep NATO as a closed shop, would be to keep those countries imprisoned in their past. It would be to rob them of one of the best means of moving forward and sharing in the future peace and prosperity we in the West are aiming for. The consequences of leaving these Partners permanently outside would be to recreate the divisions and uncertainties which we now have the chance of escaping from. Therefore, the opening up of NATO is driven both by moral and practical reasons. We want them in because it will add to the stability of our continent. Not to enlarge is the "do-nothing, achieve nothing" option. It is the option the Alliance long ago rejected. NATO's commitment to ccept new members is already having a positive effect. With the incentive of joining the West, many have entrenched democratic reforms at home and settled longstanding bilateral disputes abroad. Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic States and others have concluded or are about to conclude agreements settling long unresolved differences. Such progress has been made because the Alliance, at the right time, displayed leadership. It gave the signal that it was prepared to accept new members. As a credible organisation, NATO was taken at its word. Enhancing the Partnership for Peace To ensure that the transformation of the Alliance increases security and stability for all of Europe we will also have to take into account the needs of those who do not join or who may join later. This will require keeping the door open to future members. It will also require a strengthening of the Partnership for Peace, the key initiative which demonstrates NATO's commitment to Europe's wider security. At Madrid in July, we will launch an enhanced form of PfP. This will dramatically expand the scope for participation. Military exercises will cover the whole spectrum of possible crisis interventions. Partners will be involved in planning and preparing for contingency operations, building on the success of our common experience in Bosnia. There will also be possibilities for closer political dialogue and consultations. We already have the North Atlantic Co-operation Council which, in the five years of its existence has been a great success, extending to our Partners the habit of consultation and co-operation that we have long taken for granted as Allies. But we want to go further. The next stage of PfP will include the initiative to establish an Atlantic Partnership Council. This will provide a single political framework for all our co-operation activities and the necessary forum where Allies and Partners can meet and determine our future co-operation together. A New Relationship with Russia A European security architecture worth its name must be one that gives the largest European State, Russia, its rightful place. Russia is a great power with great power interests. Many of these interests will suggest close co-operation with NATO. Russia is a member of the OSCE and already has close links with the EU, the Council of Europe and the G7. NATO and Russia are now engaged in a discussion which will continue through the months ahead. We want an agreement that would suit our common interests and would establish a permanent mechanism of consultation and possibly joint action. NATO has proposed the creation of a joint NATO-Russia Council as a permanent mechanism of consultation, and possibly, joint action. We would also like to see permanent Russian diplomatic and military representation at NATO. We would favour the attachment of senior Russian military liaison officers to appropriate elements of NATO's military structure, with reciprocal arrangements on the presence of NATO liaison officers in Russia. Russia should be represented at NATO on a standing basis, to make its points and to see with its own eyes what NATO is really about. A true partnership will emerge once Russian and NATO staffs start to work closely together. Our successful cooperation in Bosnia is a model on which to build. A Distinct Relationship with Ukraine The emergence of new democratic states is a feature of the new security order. Their ability to survive and flourish as independent states is a key test for all of the institutions and individual nations alike. In this sense, Ukraine occupies a crucial place in Europe and has crucial significance for the type of Europe we will eventually have. In other words, an independent, stable and democratic Ukraine is of strategic importance for the development of Europe as a whole. We are therefore developing a distinct and effective relationship between NATO and Ukraine, to strengthen Ukraine's participation in securing the stability of Europe. We are working with the Ukrainian authorities to formalise this new security relationship by the time of the Madrid Summit. In the meantime, with the active support of the Ukrainian government, NATO is about to establish an information office in Kyiv. Enhancing the Mediterranean Dialogue Security in Europe is closely linked with security and stability in the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean dimension is one of the various security components of the European security architecture. Clearly, the problems of the Mediterranean are unique and we have to adapt our approach to that region. Our dialogue with non-NATO countries in the Mediterranean underlines that we believe it possible to create good, strong and friendly relations across the Mediterranean - just as we have done across Europe. Conclusion: A Dynamic Alliance Europe today faces a unique opportunity. We must grasp that opportunity boldly. We can make the next century safer, more stable, more peaceful than this one. NATO's Summit in July will mark a major milestone in the development of the new security architecture, with a dynamic NATO at its core. We will complete our internal transformation. We will be ready to take our relationships with Partners to a new level of co-operation. We will establish a strategic partnership with Russia. We will begin the 21st century on a new base.