Appeared in "Romania Libera" Bucharest, 7 July 1999

Opinion / Editorial by the NATO Secretary General The crisis in Kosovo was perhaps the greatest challenge the international community has faced since the end of the Cold War. Over the past months, we have all been faced with a vital challenge -- to uphold our principles and our values. Together, NATO and its Partners, including Romania, have met that challenge. The values of the international community have prevailed. Peace and security are being restored to Kosovo, and the international community is working as fast as possible to create the conditions in which all its citizens -- whatever their ethnic background -- can live and prosper together. We have demonstrated that "ethnic cleansing" -- mass deportation, mass killings, and mass terror -- will have no place in the Europe of the 21st century Throughout the Kosovo crisis, NATO has demonstrated its determination to uphold these values. But the Alliance was not alone. NATO's Partners in South Eastern Europe have, from the beginning, played a vital role in supporting the international efforts to bring the crisis to an end. Romania and other democracies neighbouring Yugoslavia have demonstrated remarkable courage and steadfastness in helping to combat the crimes committed by the Yugoslav Government. Despite suffering heavy pressure and high risks for your principled policies, Romania never wavered in its support for NATO's action. Romanians understand that there can be no security and stability in the region if Mr. Milosevic remained unopposed. Your country has consistently demonstrated that it is ready and willing to contribute to international security. Indeed, Romania was the first country to join NATO's Partnership for Peace, and has had a robust programme of cooperation with NATO since PfP began in 1994. You have also contributed consistently and solidly to the Implementation and Stabilisation Forces in Bosnia, thereby showing Romania's commitment to playing an active role in bringing peace to the Balkan region. That determination and commitment have been illustrated once again over the past few months, over Kosovo. Throughout this crisis, Romania has offered staunch political support to NATO's efforts to stop the ethnic cleansing. And that political support has been proven -- through practical assistance to NATO's operations. For instance, Romania volunteered last October to participate in NATO's Operation "Eagle Eye", to help verify the pullout of Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo. When Yugoslavia rejected diplomacy at Rambouillet in March of this year and began its wholesale attack on Kosovar Albanians, Romania allowed the Alliance to use Romanian airspace. And now that the air campaign has been successful, Romania will participate in the KFOR, which has been established on the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1244. Let me state once again -- this campaign was not directed against the Serbian people. It was directed against the Yugoslav Government and security forces which had been pursuing their brutal acts of "ethnic cleansing". NATO's policy has always been to work for a Kosovo in which all ethnic groups are allowed to live in peace and security. This same principle will guide the peace implementation operation. KFOR, with NATO at its core, is establishing a secure environment for the return of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons -- Albanian and Serb alike. KFOR will provide the general conditions of security to allow the UN, the OSCE, the EU and other international organisations, agencies and non-governmental organisations to carry out their tasks of reconstruction, humanitarian assistance and re-establishment of law and order. The successful cooperation among institutions that has been at the heart of the international effort in Bosnia should serve as a model for our future work in Kosovo. We are aware that this conflict has resulted in real economic difficulties in Romania, and the entire region. The international community, including NATO, is determined to help repair the damage caused by the conflict, and assist in the economic reconstruction of the entire region. This project of economic reconstruction is part of our larger vision for the future of South Eastern Europe. A future in which South Eastern Europe ceases to be an area of instability and conflict, and become a region of stability and prosperity -- a region at peace with itself and the rest of Europe. A future in which Serbia embraces the values of the rest of Europe -- peace, democracy and tolerance -- and rejoins the European family. Our aim is to approach the re-building of this region in a comprehensive way. All major political and economic institutions -- the United Nations, the European Union, the UN High Commission for Refugees, the UNICEF, the World Bank, the OSCE -- as well as non-governmental organisations and nations, will play a part. NATO will contribute to this process. To help build longer-term stability in the region, Allied leaders created a consultative forum on security matters with nations neighbouring Yugoslavia. Through the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, we are promoting co-operation in South Eastern Europe. Through the Partnership for Peace, we can enhance security co-operation programmes and exercises for Partners in the region. And we will continue to support the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, recently launched by the European Union. This Stability Pact will coordinate and deepen the investment the entire international community is making to build lasting, self-sustaining peace and prosperity in the Balkans. NATO is also making another long-term investment in European stability -- through its ongoing enlargement process. The Washington Summit this April confirmed our commitment to NATO's "open door". It also reaffirmed NATO's assessment of Romania as a serious membership aspirant. But it did more than that. It added another element that will reinforce our vision of increased cooperation and partnership -- the Membership Action Plan. Through this program, NATO will give advice, assistance and practical support to countries aspiring to membership. The relationship between Allies and membership aspirants will become more "interactive", and we will work proactively with you to help you come closer to the Alliance. Romania's commitment to integration in Euro-Atlantic institutions is a very welcome development. Over the last decade, Romania has demonstrated clearly that it will be part of this process - through internal reforms, through efforts to build regional ties, and through deepening cooperation with the rest of the Euro-Atlantic community. Romania's Strategy of National Security and its Concept on the Restructuring and Upgrading of the Armed Forces, both submitted to Parliament only a few days ago, are fully in line with this spirit of integration into the Euro-Atlantic community. And the military contribution to the peace implementation force now going into Kosovo only underscores that commitment. Romania's achievements prove that, in today's Europe, geography is no longer destiny. It is now inevitable that the countries of this region will continue to draw even closer to each other, and to the rest of the Euro-Atlantic area. This is a development that can truly give us hope and confidence as we enter the 21st century together.