Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Secretary General of The North Atlantic Alliance
Discussion "The Alliance in the Changing World" in Bratislava on 17th July 2009.
The question of NATO enlargement is still significant and should be mentioned in Strategic Concept.
The task of further enlarging NATO while simultaneously maintaining good relations with Russia would appear to have been seriously challenged by the crisis in the Caucasus last summer. Yet both tasks remain vital. The aspiration to join NATO is an expression of the right of sovereign nations to choose their own alliances and allegiances, rather than have them chosen for them. The same is with the Republic of Slovakia. NATO enlargement is also one of the most important instruments in consolidating Europe as a whole, free and democratic continent. I therefore expect a new Strategic Concept to signal clearly that the process of NATO enlargement will continue, while also making it clear that Russia’s legitimate security concerns will not be ignored or overlooked.
Secretary General’s words of praise to Slovakia being on board as a NATO member.
The Republic of Slovakia, has completed its journey into the Europe that I just mentioned -- and it has done so with great confidence and great success. We are very glad to have Slovakia on board as a member of NATO. In five short years, Slovakia has proved to be a real asset to our Alliance, both politically and militarily. And I have no doubt that, together with NATO’s other 27 member nations, it will remain a shining beacon for other countries to follow.
Freedom, peace and being undivided – the main values Europe and the North Atlantic Alliance.
I was born on the right side of the then Iron Curtain in 1948, in the free part of Europe. For me as a Dutchman and for us as Dutch people, Belgian people, UK people, Danish people, all those freedoms came automatically. We could say what we wanted to say, we could do what we wanted to do, we could gather, if we wanted to gather. This part of Europe was different. I think that if I told people who were born in the same year or decade as I was that now, in 2009, the NATO Secretary General would be here in Bratislava celebrating Slovakia’s five years in NATO, I would be considered insane. And still it happened. It is happening. I underline the opened-door principle of NATO forcefully in my speech. My message after five and a half years – Let us never take these values for granted. It is probably the message that is easier for you to defend than it is for my countrymen, because they have never had to fight for them, they never knew and I never knew what it means to live without those essential values. Why am I saying this? I am saying this, because NATO - The North Atlantic Alliance - is based on those values. Let us never take them for granted. And that is the reason why I see your forces in Uruzgan and elsewhere in Afghanistan. They are defending those values in Hindukush. Perhaps you as a group listening to me this morning, we as a group should do better job in transferring and transmitting that message to the younger generation. I am very glad to see our successors, members of young generation in this room. Because they will be at their home, in Slovakia, in NATO alliance in a few years to come.
Question How can NATO cooperate with Russia as a strategic partner behaving so unpredictably in past two decades?
Mr. Secretary General, thank you for your wonderful speech, it is our great privilege to be with you in Bratislava today. Your visit to Bratislava is special especially in the light of two facts: first, Slovakia joined NATO at the very beginning of your chairmanship, second, in last five years young Slovak professionals in international relations attended several young atlanticist summits all over the Europe. Many of Slovaks so had a chance to gain international experience and share their ideas with international colleagues, both at the summits or international Globsec Express train conference. Thank you very much for supporting that. My question will point to so called „resurgent Russia“. As we can see, Russia is appearing as an unpredictable partner from time to time: first, during 1990´s we saw sentiment of Russia towards the West, second, end of 1990´s was characterized by raised cooperation of Russia and China, third, after 9/11 Russia was cooperating well with NATO to tackle terrorism and fourth, since first gas crisis, Russia is gradually leaving us uncertain from time to time. To sum up- Russia has profoundly changed the direction of its foreign policy four times in two decades. My question is: how should NATO cope with strategic partner of this nature and how is President Medvedev´s doctrine contributing to mutual relations between NATO and Russia?
Answer Russia is a key partner but there is still much to do in mutual cooperation with NATO.
Russia is without any doubts conducting an assertive form of foreign policy and I do not blame Russia for having a certain form of policy. Russia is an important player, it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and if we look at the world of today, we do need Russia as a proactive player to tackle many of the issues we collectively face. I cannot imagine that the solution can be found for example for the challenge posed by the Iranian nuclear programme without proactive stance taken by Russia. Russia and USA are engaged in further limitations of strategic nuclear armaments and this is very important. Russia is as much threatened, although it doesn’t realize it, by the instability in Afghanistan after all. In other words, we need proactive Russia, we need a good relationship with Russia, but we cannot infringe on the core principles which has always guided this Alliance and that is e.g. the open door policy and NATO enlargement. Nations should be free to make their own alliances, to make their own sovereign decisions. An that makes mutual relation from time to time a bumpy one, an uneasy one, but if I have learned one lesson from Georgia crisis last year, it is that we should use Russia- NATO Council organization not only in a good weather, it should not be „the good weather organization“, but also in the bad weather. And it was very bad weather last August as we all remember.
Transcript by Miroslav Mizera, Tomáš Špavelko (Slovak Atlantic Commission)
