Rastislav Káčer

Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you all. My name is Rastislav Káčer, I am the president of Slovak Atlantic Commission since the last summer, before I had spent five years as the ambassador of Slovakia to the United States and I have a privilege and a pleasure to welcome you all at this conference that is the fourth of the GLOBSEC series. It is becoming 4th I do not know whether you can already say that it is a trademark, but I think that 4th that is already some sign of tradition and all of us who followed those four years that have been good vintages and this fourth I hope is a good one. When I look at the room which is filling in, we have got more than 300 participants confirmed, we’ve got excellent speakers but what is more important, we have got the time, we have got the year, a special moment, which is here – 60 years of NATO, ten years of NATO strategic concept, 60 years of something that is called a transatlantic vision in practice, in real life, 60 years of a vision which has brought unprecedented stability, strength and unprecedented wealth to whole range of nations which Slovakia joined five years ago and we are very proud of it. Though, institutions are created by nations and by people, they do not have life on their own. Institutions have only that what country put into them, what is the contribution, what is the vision and what is the drive behind, the dedications and the will of politicians. And this year will be at the watershed and will be a test of the will because the world is slowly changing and has changed to the level in degree which will test the old institutions profoundly and we are in that year. GLOBSEC is one of the series of the conferences among NATO allies and partners which will kick off the substantially debate, we will have the NATO summit early coming in – it is just couple of months. In few weeks, in few days people will meet in Munich – so this will be very fruitful year and I hope it will be a very good year for the old institutions and it will be a good year for new beginning and new restart. In fact, when we look at the USA, I am turning to president Obama’s speech there was lot of “re” - reinventing, restarting, renewing and I think this is not only referring to the speech of president Obama, I am referring to whole Atlantic Community which need to redo many things.

I have a special pleasure to welcome our introduction speaker here. Originally, we planned Minister of Foreign Affairs Ján Kubiš to open with a keynote address. Minister Kubiš has left, on Monday he resigned and he went to Geneva, so we have got a new minister – Minister Lajčák who I am sure would be delighted to be here, but he is doing now a shuttle diplomacy of High Representative and Slovak Foreign Ministry in between. By those coincidences we have got very special bonus embodied in a State Secretary, Ms. Diana Štrofová who is not only a very charming person, so I think you are much better off than having minister Kubiš or minister Lajčák – do not take this as a sexist comment – not at all. I know Madam State Secretary for long time and she has been very dedicated person in Slovak political life as a Member of Parliament before, for many years member of Slovak delegation to North Atlantic Treaty Assembly and many other forums. She was a strong advocate of Slovak membership in NATO many years ago and strong supporter of that case, when she was not in the government and now as a part of the government. So it is a privilege to have her here. She will address you with a keynote speech for some 15 or 20 minutes and maybe we could take couple of questions to kick start of the debate before we go for break at 10 o’clock and start panel discussion. Madam Secretary you are welcomed here and I before you take the word, I would say that this conference would not be able without the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, NATO Headquarters, but also without our main partners and supporters - BAE Systems, Ardaco Slovakia, Mercedes Benz, PQM, Euractiv, Euro-Atlantic Quarterly and our press partner – Slovak press agency –SITA.

Diana Štrofová

First of all, I would like to bring you warm greetings from two people that were mentioned – from exminister Mr. Kubiš who was delighted in the past to cooperate with many of you, and from the new Minister Mr. Lajčák who is for the future expecting many interesting meetings with you. Today, I would start with few of remarks and after, I would be interested in your comments and questions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Excellencies.

Advance planning for the agenda of foreign and security policy events, including Globsec, has proven to be an ambitious forecasting and futurist exercise. It would have been rather difficult to predict only a few months ago how deeply would the international security community get immersed in dealing with such issues as energy security of Slovakia and other countries of the European Union, or the escalation of the Middle East conflict, not to speak of the worrying context of global financial crisis, creeping economic recession, or accumulation of major global threats looming over these and other foreign policy and security issues of our times.

Yet, this is just another practical illustration of the often repeated assertion of how unpredictable is the development of the present-day international security situation. The assertion that we have no problem accepting in general terms, but whose concrete manifestations never fail taking us by surprise. We are thus facing the question of how to prepare for such surprises. Several answers are possible, each depending on the chosen perspective. One of the best answers is certainly a forward-looking building of alliances. This brings me to the key theme of my remarks and I will certainly make no mistake if I say that, broadly speaking, also the key theme of this conference. The reality clearly demonstrates that we can most effectively face the present-day and future dangers by rallying with other countries and organizations with which we share common values and readiness for mutual assistance.

The recent “gas crisis” has further validated the need for common European solutions. I am pleased to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the attitudes and support shown by our European Union allies during the crisis, in particular the Czech Republic, Germany, France, as well as Hungary, Poland and the leadership of the European Commission. We have come to an extremely positive realization that solidarity among the allies can help overcome serious problems faced by one of the allies. This will make Slovakia an even stronger advocate, together with the current Czech presidency of the EU, of strengthening the dialogue in the field of energy security within the EU and NATO aimed at achieving a realistic common energy security of the EU.

I am confident that also in the light of this recent experience we can agree that Slovakia is fortunate in having a wide alliance potential. The alliance that is the most important for the security interests of Slovakia and of the European Union is that with North America – the well-tested transatlantic commitment guaranteeing security of each member state of NATO.

The North Atlantic Alliance that is about to mark its 60th anniversary is preparing its April summit in Kehl and Strasbourg with a general expectation that it will adopt, as one of its key outcomes, a decision on the formulation of a new Strategic Concept of the Alliance. We should, however, be rather cautious in our general expectations of the April 2009 summit, considering the need for NATO to come to grips with at least three fundamental issues underlying its existence. First, the relevance and strength of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. The Alliance must make it clear and reaffirm that its fundamental mission is the fulfillment of Article 5.

Second, it must accept that non-Article 5 operations represent and will in all likelihood continue to represent a demanding test of the organization’s internal cohesion, and of the unity and mutual solidarity of the allies. Political consent does not necessarily imply full technical, military or other commitment of individual countries, and it should therefore be expected that non-Article 5 operations will de facto continue to be operations of the “coalitions of the willing”. The third problem consists in the lingering disparity between the number of rapid deployment and territorial forces of most European allies and those of the United States which presents a considerable hindrance for more extensive non-Article 5 operations. The defence-spending gap between the US and the European NATO members continues to be enormous and, given the economic crisis situation, the current level of engagement of the United States is likely to be preserved also in the next few years. The resolution of this problem will predetermine NATO’s ability to successfully handle non-Article 5 conflicts including that in Afghanistan, which has highlighted the gap between the global responsibility of NATO and its military capabilities. It was with this aim that the Slovak government has reinforced its mission to Afghanistan by deciding to deploy an additional guard unit in the Kandahar area.

We perceive the on-going transformation of NATO to be one of primary challenges for the organization. It encompasses a number of aspects of political and defense military character that respond to complex developments in the present-day world. In our view, the Alliance continues to be the key strategic security forum for peace and stability in Europe and the world, an indispensable military organization. Also for this reason Slovakia supports the process of NATO enlargement by new countries subject to compliance with the necessary criteria.

As generally known, the Slovak Republic is making a highly specific contribution to this process by acting as a NATO contact embassy in Ukraine from January 2007.

The combination of continuity and change that may be expected of the new US administration in the foreign policy area is likely to entail a weakening of unilateralism of the previous period on the one hand (although we should be cautious in our expectations), and opening up new challenges for the EU on the other hand. Recent statements on the role of diplomacy in the US foreign policy made by Hillary Clinton may be seen as a positive signal for increasing the transparency and relative predictability of US foreign policy. On the other hand, if the Union wants to preserve or, more appropriately, to enhance its credibility, it will have to make a vigorous contribution to addressing the problems of the today’s world.

The next few weeks and months will show what position will the US take concerning the formulation of the European Defence and Security Policy (ESDP), especially in the context of NATO’s fight against terrorism. A certain distrust regarding the building of European military capabilities can be overcome only through the efforts at finding an optimum compromise between the harmonization of EU and NATO activities and the independent formulation of ESDP. Further development should pursue the goal of formulating a common vision of cohesion, complementarity and shared responsibility of both organizations for facing the challenges of the 21st century.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The future of the European security has been debated for several months at the European political science and security forums. The debate was sparked off by the Russian initiative to change the European security architecture. The EU and NATO members should obviously prepare for extensive discussions within the OSCE; we believe, however, that the existing landscape framed by the upcoming economic crisis will change the hierarchy of priorities for both the European countries and Russia.

From our country’s perspective, the new European security architecture does not represent a hot or a priority theme although we recognize that the suspension of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, the last year’s military conflict in Georgia, frozen conflicts, observance or non-observance of commitments or the recent gas crisis are the themes that shed a new light on the issue of stability of the European security. At any rate, Slovakia will closely consult and coordinate these issues with other EU and NATO members.

The crisis in Georgia and the recent Russian-Ukrainian “gas dispute” with its damaging consequences for EU members including Slovakia have fundamentally altered the NATO’s and EU’s perception of Russia as their strategic eastern partner and, as regards the gas, also that of Ukraine. It has undermined the political credibility of these countries as well as their credit as trade partners. The conviction is growing that especially Russia misuses economic instruments as a means of pressure for attaining its geopolitical objectives. However, given the situation where Slovakia was held hostage to the Russian-Ukrainian dispute, it is relatively difficult to take an unbiased stance towards the countries that have only recently caused us tremendous problems, oblivious of their impact.

Having said that, Slovakia is committed to maintaining and further deepening a systematic dialogue on the future shape of relations with Russia both in the Euroatlantic and the European framework. Slovakia has the ambition to become its active part. We have a preference for a cooperation model of developing relations between the West and Russia. Slovakia’s commitment to this model of cooperation does not mean that it agrees with the creation of such sphere of interest of Russia that would prevent the countries from deciding their foreign policy orientations and the choice of key allies.

The Slovak Republic is committed not to allow the implementation of a cooperation model in the development of relations with Russia being at the detriment of Euroatlantic institutions. We firmly believe that the strongest asset of the transatlantic space lies in its unity, and we will therefore continue to emphasize the need for its attainment and preservation of that unity.

Slovakia acknowledges the interests of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet space while condemning the processes that would ultimately lead to a new division of the world. In this regards, the crisis in Georgia was an opportunity to demonstrate the value foundations of Slovak foreign and security policy. This concerns mainly such issues as the strengthening of the respect for international law, exclusion of force in dispute resolution, or use of multilateralism.

In spite of the complexities and setbacks in the relations of Russia with the EU and NATO, Russia should not be demonized and there is no place for Russophobia. What needs to be done is to examine and seek such pragmatic models of correct cooperation that will be mutually advantageous, ensure stability of the relations, and their sustainability and predictability. The cooling of the relations with Russia and Ukraine or shrinking the activities vis-à-vis eastern partners is neither in the interest of Slovakia nor in the interest of NATO and the EU. If anything, the crisis has only confirmed the need for communication and close cooperation with these countries.

We are of the opinion that the right answer by the Union to the current state of affairs in eastern Europe lies in the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy – policy based on a combination of bilateralism and multilateralism, modernization and sectoral integration. It opens up good prospects and a choice of the way of life. A stable and democratic Eastern Europe will strengthen both EU and Russia. Eastern Partnership is the best way how to achieve it. Slovakia can serve as a good example.

Slovakia continues to take an active part in the shaping of the EU and NATO policy in the Western Balkans region. The examples of Kosovo and EULEX show that Slovakia stands ready and is able to contribute to building a consensus and to take a constructive stance also as regards the issues where it does not share the view of the majority of EU member states.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to conclude my remarks by the reference to the forthcoming 5th anniversary of full-fledged membership of Slovakia in NATO and the EU.  Slovakia’s NATO and EU membership to date, and its recent two-year membership of the UN Security Council, have enhanced in an unprecedented manner the international standing of Slovakia and its responsibility for the developments on the international arena. This was made possible not only by exerting great efforts at the national level but, to a no lesser extent, by the extremely helpful and friendly support by our allies.

I would be very pleased if this plea for unity and alliance resounded as a key message in conclusion of this conference in these turbulent times of global development. Thank you.

Rastislav Káčer

Madam State Secretary, thank you very much for your introduction remarks, you covered almost every area which will be discussed during the conference. The agenda is really rich and I liked your point that every state is a player here, we tend to think sometimes that we are small and we are unimportant and nothing, we changed nothing, our contribution is just too small to change course of the things. I do not agree with this statement, even small countries have their own share of responsibility and they have their own role to play in this area. I would open the floor for the couple of discussions before we go for the break. Let me just look around for the hands, before anybody would raise the hand I would ask you, what you think, this year in addition to all of the complexities we are facing in terms of that the security is becoming more fuzzier than ever before. We have things in the world which have not been here before, which have not been seen as security threats. We have the issues of cyber security; we saw what couple of days or weeks of a gas crisis can do with the economy. Is the falling economy, thanks to the commercial economic issues, is it the hard core security we should handle it? What is the responsibility of the players? In addition to all of this we see world flaming economic and financial crisis which would mean budgets going down, state needs to reconsider its spending and look at the public money. Very easy way how to cut down those is of course to look at defense, this is big budget and it is easy to cut. So how we match to be responsible? Dedicate resources and couple of those things, you think Slovakia is ready, what do you think that will be the impact of necessary budget cuts? You think government will choose to stick to the ordering public finance or will be willing to spend more money from the budget not cutting things?

Diana Štrofová

I just stand after the words you have said but still I would like to add all the situations coming up over world are improving. Their existence and their need for such kind of changing the system of NATO functioning and getting ready and preparing itself for such kind of new recall that are coming over us. This is the first, for sure there is still this kind of fight between - let’s say - national political priorities and foreign and global priorities, even if they have something in common, but still I mean it in the view of the sources. That is why even in my speech the words of the need of communication about the European security and defense structures but it will still take some time to reach the moment in the debate that we will prove that we are so far and ready for another delivery.

Rastislav Káčer

Well, I agree with you that we will face the challenge of facing the global challenges which are becoming more global than ever before but also some leader tempted to react by ways to nationalize or renationalize the approach to solutions that will not be right.

Pavol Demeš

I have two questions for Madam Secretary: one local, regional and one global. Ukraine which is our neighbor was part of the problems for Slovakia at the beginning of the year because of this Russia-Ukraine dispute. Some people suggest that image of Ukraine deteriorated seriously in Slovakia after this crisis. What would be the Slovak position on upcoming NATO Summit vis-à-vis chances of Ukrainian membership in NATO and the European Union? Do you think that situation that occurred around this crisis worsened the sympathy or chances of Ukraine to join European and transatlantic institution? And second, the European Union and all of us wanted very much Guantanamo to be closed. It is going to happen, what will be the position of Slovak government once these people from Guantanamo will be released? What should we do with this?

You have mentioned that political consent for a non Article 5 mission does not apply a willing commitment of military forces. I want you to say something of how the Slovak government takes account of its ability to commit military forces before giving political consent for a mission.

Emil Vestenický

My name is Vestenický, I am a Member of Slovak Parliament for Slovak National Party. Ms. Madam Secretary, at the beginning of the second decade, in October 2008, somewhere it was on 21st, somewhere it was on 23rd October, French President Sarkozy had a speech in the European Parliament. He spoke about some positions of resolving the Georgia conflict but also about the problems of financial crisis related to new ecologic questions which offers the 21st century. We could hear some indirect ways how to resolve these situations from the position different to the United States. What is your opinion about joined acting within the NATO and the EU. Will it be needed that the states of the EU - before they come to the discussion within NATO – should have joined approach and act there united? In that way, to what extend is it necessary that the EU should have common representative within NATO? You speak here about the need to communicate, communication is a way. However, I would be more interested in the goals that you see at the end of this way. Thank you for now.

Diana Štrofová

First of all, I have to declare that Ukraine, even after all the very serious problems that was closing the bilateral problem with Russia and that was close to Slovakia means still to us very important ally and friend, neighbor country and country that is on the track of lot of reforms of political shaking and that we see it is coming very close to countries of the European Union and still but we hope it will decide about the future in NATO. We cannot do something of a place of Ukraine, it is their own part of the deal that first of all, the process has to get in the own ground and then all of us, we can do even more than we are doing till today. As a contact point Embassy Slovakia is developing a lot of activities in the field of public diplomacy, we are trying to involve more and more people about knowing what it means to be a member of Alliance, what it means for responsibilities in the meaning of responsibilities but also advantages because it is also two ways, two sides of the things. That is why, to assume, I would not think that today’s position of Slovakia will tremendously change to Ukraine. Of course, we will bear in mind all the situation from the latest days but at the same time we will still keep on very strong activities and very close relation to Ukrainian leadership in favor of what I have mentioned of the will to create alliances to ensure the security in the region of Europe.

Rastislav Káčer

Well, I think, you know, if Slovak people and Slovak leaders have chosen their past and the future and we have, I think, chosen right our partners which are the European Union’ states and NATO and Ukrainian leaders and Ukrainian people have to chose and we should support their chose. Strongly.

Diana Štrofová

Even by knowledge what that really means.

Rastislav Káčer

That is precisive.

Diana Štrofová

Guantanamo, what we did. It is responsibility that we will have to overtake not only as European country but as country that wishes to take part and to share all the things that being allied brings, so even the responsibility over the future of Guantanamo. But it is still about long debates with our colleagues in the United States and NATO. So today I am not really ready to say and predict the perspective and say some national position that would be really straight.

Then there was the question of Slovakia’s readiness to deploy our soldiers if I understood well. This is an official system that is based in our rules, in our law how it works. But first of all I have to mention already in the past Slovakia went through large reform where our soldiers and our army became professional. That is why today we cannot speak about large numbers of soldiers that we could deploy any time. But we had to focus on specific issues or activities where we are good really within the army agenda. And that is the way we are trying to offer to all Alliance activities, our deployment. You can see our soldiers, before it was five major missions, today we reconsidered if we want to be really effective we cannot be active everywhere. That is why we have to focus majority of our activities to Cyprus, Western Balkans and Afghanistan. I see Afghanistan as an issue that every country has to understand the responsibility over the future in Afghanistan. It is not an issue only of military solution but also civilian solution, that is why even Slovakia seeks today not only of military presence but also about support from, or we are trying to look for more activities, not only the governmental ones or decided by the government of parliament. But also those activities which are to be done together with NGO sector, those are today very much needed in Afghanistan and there Slovak Government is even looking forward and seeing a kind of space what we have from the national point of view to still fill.

General Vestenický, I am glad that I see you again. Thank you very much for your question. It is very hard to say if it would be really worth to have one person that could represent all the European countries in NATO. It is very important, it is even in present days shown in the European Union where is large debate within the Lisbon Treaty, if in the Commission every nation should have its own representative or it should be 2/3 of the countries rotating. You see that many countries are not satisfied and that they wish to stay at the desk to say and to have the opportunity to say their own opinions at the same time when it is needed. So that is why I think it is very important issue to find ground and very effective cooperation and first of all communication within the European Union and NATO. This is from my personal view the most important point but still I would not advocate for presence of one person representing European countries in NATO, if I understood the question, it was meant like that. I think every national position is somehow different and it has to sound at the round table of the Alliance. And you rightly said there is a lot of communications but you do not see the achievements of the final end of the communication. I would say without communication we cannot come to the goal to achievement of the goals.  But today and the reality was showing that we have achieved a lot, not only from the national point of view but also from the Alliance point of view. We are very ahead and we are all aware of our responsibilities and duties towards each other and I think the Alliance is answer and end of communication is answer to all the questions.

Rastislav Káčer

Madam Secretary, thank you for your introduction and also responses. Truth is that what General Vestenický asked, it would be nice to see one day on Security Council of the UN the EU representing before we get to special small NATO Council which would be the EU, the United States and Canada but that is a long way to go, maybe my beard is not grey enough and long enough but maybe one day it will become. So welcome again to all of you. Enjoy the day.