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March 10 Speech by Alain Richard, French Minister of Defense, at the NATO at 50" Conference, London, March 8-10, Organized by the Royal United Services Institute. " |
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These days we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of an Institution which has played a major part in the construction of Europe as we see it today. NATO has designed the lines of the development of our continent and the western world as a whole: Organising defence against the threat from the vast, reintegrating Germany into the western defence community, managing the strategic link between North America and Europe.
1. The most important feature of the scene when NATO was born and developed, which was the threat of an attack from the East, has now faded away. But the wall was hiding realities that we sometimes suspected, anticipated, but which also surprised us and occasionally horrified us.
For better or worse, NATO was able to adapt to such a change. It contributed to the positive results of the last decade, if we can talk of results when it the lives and deaths of men are involved.
But today the time scale has changed too. The long term threat has been replaced by almost daily risks. Eastern and South Eastern Europe have demonstrated that the unacceptable may occur at any moment, caused by reflexes that we thought had been eradicated decades ago, at least amongst us in Europe. It is no longer the brutal confrontation that we have to plan for, but a regional instability or rather a series of instabilities, that have to be addressed if we refuse to see our values and our credibility flouted
2. Being now a global economic power, Europe must play its full part in providing the security to the Euro-Atlantic zone, either within the NATO framework or in a more self-reliant manner: we cannot leave some regions to be consumed by violence for lack of the will or of the resources needed to intervene.
This duty emerges from the common values on which Europe has rebuilt itself after War II, and from the democratic environment it has created based on the principles of law. To ensure that all this does not end in mere lip service. Europe must be able to act military, against the illegitimate use of force.
We, among political leaderships of all the European nations, are well aware of this, and public opinion is no longer willing to accept the tearing of our principles at our very doors. Our area of responsibility must correspond to a region where law, and human rights are applied more fairly and vigorously than elsewhere.
3. This common responsibility as Europeans does not reduce the strength of the transatlantic link, now or in the foreseeable future. This link retains its worth, from at least three elements.
Firstly, the Euro-Americans partnership is the adequate response to any emerging major threat. Since we are supposed to work for the long term, it would be irresponsible to ignore this possibility.
Secondly, it is one of the possible intervention scenarios to address crises that rock our continent, as has been demonstrated by our joint action in ex-Yugoslavia since the start of this decade. Even if we must accept criticism for our common achievements, when we look back we see that NATO has been a decisive element of our action against violence. Let us ask the simple question; would we have acted alone?".
Finally, the Alliance offers us all a forum for dialogue1 and the security of a familiar community whose comfort we tend to forget as we are so used to it. And it will be a pleasure for us to share this comfort and this security with our three new allies in a few days.
But we all understand that the decision making process in the United States is based on a delicate mechanism of checks and balances, and that the tendency to avoid disputed commitments in distant crises often emerges in Congress. And the heavy condition of being the only super-power with so many challenges to take up can only maintain this underlying reluctance..
In the case of NATO the idea of sharing the burden has gained momentum1 and there is now a basis for convergence between this demand and a change towards the better sharing of responsibilities that is sought by many Europeans.
4. The European Union on its side is getting stronger.
The arrival of the Euro was an occasion for a significant reappraisal throughout the world. But it is not a single fact over the years we have seen a steady growth in the European feeling of belonging amongst our fellow citizens The European elections will offer an opportunity to confirm how far the pro-Europeans are in the majority within the member states. This is all the more true between young citizens and the sense of shared ideas and ambitions is spreading through many sectors of society.
Little by little the Union is acquiring important attributes of sovereignty, it is already negotiating as a whole in significant global fora like the NATO. It has developed a joint decision making mechanism, a common currency founded on a sound economy, a cooperating judicial architecture. it is hard to imagine leaving the defence field to lie fallow indefinitely ; and it is here that the British initiative by Prime Minister Tony Blair has been so valuable. It is a determinant factor not only in this field but also for the whole future of European construction.
5. A new climate for the European Defence structure has therefore logically emerged, which I will read in a few signs:
1) Progress has been made in Maastricht and Amsterdam, and more recently in St Malo following the proposals by President Chirac and Prime Minister Jospin in the summer bf 1998 and the initiative of Tony Blair in October in Portschach. The dual presidency held by Germany of the EU and WEU for the first half of 1999 is a promise of solid and concerted progress.
2) Progress within the Atlantic Alliance; Brussels summit in 1994, Berlin in 1996~ Madrid in 1997 have sustained progress: on the ESDI. But also, during the 1990s, the integration of the ex-Soviet block into various concentric circles around the Alliance, and finally the incorporation in a few days of three new allies.
3) Progress has been confirmed on other words in ex-Yugoslavia:
- Greater political understanding than before between Europeans, and with the Americans (ex. ACTORD in October 1998).
-The taking of responsibility for military action.
-The extraction force under NATO on the initiative of France. If the Rambouillet agreements have a successful outcome, the possibility of a NATO force, KFOR, mostly European.
However let US avoid premature enthusiasm. There is still a long way to go towards a genuine European defence. We must not forget that it needed ten years to create the Euro and this was not the first attempt. It would be reasonable for the moment to be content with a realistic, pragmatic initiative, taken step by step: first find a way to manage together all the crises on our continent. For this we must be able to combine effectively political management and the credible threat of the use of force. In Europe this has already worked, and we sincerely hope that it will work again, within the framework of negotiations over Kosovo that reopen on Monday in Paris under joint British/French chairmanship.
6. This then is our priority: give Europe the institutional and operational resources to take decisions on crises that affect the stability of our continent.
In this context, the future offers a greater role for the European Union, which will be called on the take on the capabilities and role of the WEU. It is the European Council, made up of the heads of state and elected governments of Europe, that provides the political legitimacy to which W8 can assign intervention capabilities in the security field, to give it a broad role.
This is the expression of the fifteen sovereignties that have decided to act together; in other words, this is the second pillar the intergovernmental element that can fully express this willingness with the flexibility needed in respect of each sovereignty.
To support the European Council in its creation of the General Affairs Council (Foreign Ministers backed up where required, by Defence Ministers), it will certainly be necessary to create other working bodies, as well as a group of senior officials who will take on all the business of the CSFP, and would be able to take routine decisions concerning politico-military matters, or again the military committee of the EU and the European Military Staffs.
7. While respecting the principle of avoiding unnecessary duplication with NATO, Europe must have solid and credible crisis management structures, and operational planning and command resources, as was stated as an objective at Saint-Malo.
It should be noted that many resources are already available, both in the EU and in the WEU (situation centre, Torrejon satellite centre, etc); it is up to the Europeans to agree on the way forward for the rationalisation and satisfactory integration of the resources at their disposal.
In addition, within the Alliance, we must fully implement the decisions taken over recent years, notably in Berlin, to give concrete form to the reinforcement of the European pillar to give better balance to the organisation.
I also think that we should go beyond Berlin by giving deputy SACEUR the resources he needs to fully assume his European functions, and by enabling the EU to have unfettered access to NATO resources, especially in the planning field.
In this context, the opportunity offered by the Washington summit in April will be significant.
8. These increased resources benefit the Alliance as they strengthen and diversify the joint intervention capability without unnecessary duplication of NATO resources. Reinforcing the European pillar also strengthens NATO and improves its balance.
It rejuvenates and modifies the transatlantic link, by introducing a more stable and creative relationship with the United States.
Finally, for Europe, it offers a broader range of options to react to security problems on the continent.
It is on a basis of a durable solidarity that we must view the Euro-Atlantic partnership within the Alliance. Any initiative which might be seen as calling on competitive instincts is doomed to failure as it does not correspond to the desires of the vast majority of Europeans, nor to what is in practice. achievable.
We must carry on down this road, with the shared desire to see Europe make progress, in a pragmatic fashion: all Europeans must be associated with each stage, whether they belong to the European Union, the WEU or if they are merely associates. And the route must be planned out in a sprit of transparency with the United States
These are not some vague principles that I have listed here, these are rules of conduct that we are implementing, on a daily basis, for the management of dramatic crises which characterise our continent; today in Kosovo, but only God knows where next.
No-one can say today if we will succeed, but one thing is certain, and that is we are acting together, out of loyalty and solidarity, recognising the collective will of Europeans to go down this path.
In front of this distinguished and friendly audience, am in the best position to express both my wish and my hope that we will succeed.
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