"Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century"

Mesdames, Messieurs,

Je suis très heureux de me trouver ici, à Toronto. Pour deux raisons. D'abord, bien entendu, parce que j'ai l'occasion de m'adresser à un éminent auditoire canadien. Ensuite parce que ma venue à Toronto se situe à un moment où l'équipe des Maple Leafs est en tête de la Ligue nationale de hockey! Il est toujours bon d'être témoin d'événements historiques!

Bien sûr, si je me trouve ici, c'est pour parler d'un autre événement historique qui aura lieu cette année : le cinquantième anniversaire de l'OTAN. En avril, les Chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement des pays de l'OTAN se réuniront à Washington pour célébrer le cinquantième anniversaire de la signature du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord.

Il est tout à fait opportun, à de nombreux égards, que le Sommet ait lieu à Washington. D'abord, évidemment, parce que c'est là que le Traité de l'Atlantique Nord a été signé, en 1949. Mais aussi parce que ce choix symbolise ce qui est la caractéristique même de l'OTAN : la volonté ferme et constante des Nord-Américains pour aider à soutenir la paix et la stabilité en Europe. Et, tout au long de ce siècle, le Canada a joué un rôle clé, un rôle central dans la démonstration de cette volonté.

On pourrait caractériser la contribution du Canada à la sécurité européenne par trois phases distinctes. La première phase est antérieure à la création de l'OTAN. C'était une phase réactive : avant 1945, les Canadiens sont venus combattre à deux reprises en Europe pour défendre la liberté alors que la guerre avait déjà éclaté sur le Vieux Continent.

Eloigné de quelques kilomètres seulement de mon bureau au siège de l'OTAN à Bruxelles, se trouve un cimetière où reposent des dizaines de soldats canadiens qui ont donné leur vie au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale. Il existe des centaines de cimetières pareils à celui-là dans toute l'Europe occidentale; plus de 100.000 Canadiens ont fait le sacrifice ultime pour servir la cause de la paix en Europe au cours de ces deux guerres.

Nous autres Européens n'avons pas oublié ce sacrifice. Tous ces cimetières sont régulièrement entretenus. L'histoire de ces hommes est enseignée dans toutes nos écoles. Et même aujourd'hui, lorsqu'on célèbre la Libération en Belgique et en Hollande, chaque Canadien peut être assuré de se voir offrir un verre de bière et une poignée de main reconnaissante!

Tant de Canadiens ont risqué leur vie parce que le Canada a une certitude : les peuples d'Amérique du Nord et d'Europe font partie d'une seule et même communauté. Une communauté dont tous les membres sont épris de liberté, de paix, de démocratie et de justice sociale. Il s'agit également d'une communauté résolue à agir lorsqu'il devient nécessaire de défendre ces valeurs.

En 1949, face à la menace croissante à laquelle l'Europe occidentale se trouvait confrontée, le Canada a modifié sa présence en Europe au service de la sécurité. Au lieu de se replier sur son territoire et de réagir simplement à un conflit, comme c'était le cas au cours de la période antérieure à la création de l'OTAN, le Canada, comme les Etats-Unis, a décidé de rester en Europe occidentale et par là-même de contribuer à prévenir le déclenchement d'un conflit.

Les deux pays ont choisi d'être membres fondateurs de l'Alliance de l'Atlantique Nord. L'OTAN est le mécanisme par lequel le Canada et les Etats-Unis se sont engagés à contribuer au maintien de la sécurité de l'Europe occidentale sur le long terme. Ceci a marqué le début de la seconde phase de la contribution que le Canada apporte, en tant qu'Allié loyal, à la sécurité euro-atlantique.

Ce lien transatlantique, établi par l'intermédiaire de l'OTAN, a eu deux avantages. Tout d'abord, il a contribué à offrir une garantie de sécurité à l'Europe occidentale alors qu'elle s'attaquait à l'énorme tâche de la reconstruction. Cette renaissance a été bénéfique aussi bien pour l'Europe que pour l'Amérique du Nord. Aujourd'hui, l'Union européenne est le second partenaire commercial du Canada, et le second investisseur dans ce pays.

Le deuxième avantage à long terme de la relation transatlantique au cours des cinquante dernières années a été politique. La présence politique constante et ferme de l'Amérique du Nord en Europe a contribué à inculquer le concept d'une communauté atlantique qui s'étend bien au-delà du domaine de la sécurité et qui profite à tous ses membres.

Quand la guerre froide s'est terminée, quelques critiques ont pourtant laissé entendre que l'Amérique du Nord et l'Europe n'avaient plus besoin l'une de l'autre. Selon cette logique, l'Alliance pouvait se dissoudre, et l'Europe et l'Amérique du Nord suivre chacune leur chemin.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, il s'est avéré que ces critiques avaient tort. Ils se sont trompés car ils ont ignoré que l'OTAN n'est pas seulement une organisation de défense collective. Elle repose, de manière fondamentale et permanente, sur le désir commun de ses membres de préserver et de renforcer leur sécurité et leur stabilité mutuelles.

En fait, le Canada a déployé tous ses efforts, en 1949, pour s'assurer que l'OTAN consacre ce principe. Le Canada a contribué à la rédaction de l'Article 2 du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord qui engageait, en 1949 déjà, les Alliés à contribuer au développement de relations internationales pacifiques et amicales et à promouvoir les conditions propres à assurer la stabilité et le bien-être.

Comme l'a déclaré Lester Pearson devant le Parlement canadien, au cours du débat sur la ratification, "C'est pourquoi ce pacte est un instrument de paix. Il favorisera l'instauration des conditions de stabilité et de sécurité dans lesquelles la paix peut s'épanouir."

Toutefois, dans l'environnement de sécurité actuel, il n'est plus possible de promouvoir la stabilité et la sécurité de manière réactive ou passive. Il faut agir de manière dynamique. Le renforcement de la sécurité suppose que l'on établisse de nouveaux partenariats avec les anciens adversaires, que l'on favorise la sécurité nécessaire au développement économique, et que l'on aide les nouvelles démocraties, fragiles, à se renforcer. Cela suppose également une prévention des conflits et une gestion des crises, lorsqu'elles éclatent et peuvent avoir une incidence sur la sécurité des Alliés.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are, today, beginning the third phase of North America's involvement in European security. Through NATO, Canada and the United States, along with their European Allies, are actively building peace and security across the whole of Euro-Atlantic area, spanning from Finland to Italy, from Canada to Central Asia. In so doing, NATO is helping to spread across Central and Eastern Europe the same peace, stability and prosperity that Western Europe have enjoyed for the past 50 years. Over the last ten years, NATO has been adapting its structures and policies to take on this new role. We will be issuing a new Strategic Concept at the Washington Summit that takes these adaptations into account, and guides the new NATO into the 21st Century.

Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the new NATO in Washington will be the number of national flags flying: nineteen, instead of sixteen. By April, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Poland will formally be members of the Alliance.

Through enlargement, the Alliance extends concretely the zone of stability and security it represents - just as the EU enlargement process will extend its prosperity and political stability. And I congratulate Canadians on demonstrating your commitment to this principle by being the first NATO nation to ratify the accession protocols of the three invitees.

This round of enlargement is only part of an on-going process. At the Summit, we will unveil new measures designed to help aspirant countries meet NATO standards, and thereby enhance their prospects of admission. At the same time, we will enhance our relations with all non-NATO countries across Europe. Five years ago, NATO set up the Partnership for Peace Programme. It has already proven an invaluable means to help restructure the armed-forces of countries formerly belonging to the Warsaw Pact, to help them find their appropriate place in modern democratic societies, and to engage in practical cooperation.

This, too, enhances stability far outside NATO territory. And Canada is playing a key role in that process, both within the Alliance, and through your national Military Training Assistance Programme. At the Summit, we will continue the real progress we have made towards building a Europe where military forces exist not to confront, but to cooperate with each other.

Of course, one very important partnership is the new, positive relationship between NATO and Russia. In 1997, NATO and Russia established the Permanent Joint Council. Today, only two years later, Russia and NATO consult regularly on current security issues such as Bosnia and Kosovo, nuclear safety and disarmament. We are also deepening our programme of practical cooperation. The year ahead promises even greater cooperation.

Ukraine, like Russia, occupies a crucial place in Europe. The ability of this newly independent country to survive and flourish is crucial to long-term stability in Europe.

NATO and Ukraine have developed a distinctive relationship, covering a wide range of security-related cooperation. We have developed a work programme which covers such important issues as cooperation in peacekeeping and defence reform.

Canada plays a leading role within the Alliance in its relations with Ukraine. Indeed, with the largest Ukrainian Diaspora in the world, you are well placed to do so! For example, your bilateral embassy in Kyiv serves as the NATO Contact Embassy, and played a vital role in the negotiations of the NATO-Ukraine Charter signed in Madrid in 1997.

These new partnerships will go a long way to building long-term peace across Europe. Unfortunately, there are still security challenges to be faced now. We need to ensure that we are capable of meeting them.

As the war in Bosnia showed us, conflicts can still break out in Europe - conflicts that not only cause enormous human suffering, but also threaten wider European stability. NATO has therefore adapted its policies and structures to carry out conflict prevention and crisis management operations.

NATO's force posture and command structure, for example, have been significantly modified since the days of the Cold War. Today, security challenges can come in many forms, and from many directions. NATO's forces have, therefore, been adapted to be more flexible. At the Summit, we will launch a defence capabilities initiative to improve the capabilities of our forces to move great distance, quickly, and then be sustained while in the field. The NATO Flying Training Programme in Canada will go a long way to improving Alliance flexibility and interoperability, and I congratulate you on it.

Weapons of mass destruction could pose a risk to our troops deployed on peacekeeping missions, and potentially to our populations. That is why we are preparing a Summit initiative to improve NATO's response to this security challenge.

In the Balkans, we are seeing a preview of how NATO will meet the challenges of the 21st century: in a collective, determined and flexible manner. NATO's practical partnerships made it possible for 20 non-NATO countries to deploy, and operate, with NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Russian and Ukrainian troops are working side by side with their NATO counterparts to help implement the Dayton Peace Accords.

NATO's role in the Kosovo crisis also demonstrates the importance of our new military flexibility. As this crisis has evolved, so have NATO's efforts to manage and end it. The Alliance has supported neighbouring countries such as Albania and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia against instability through the Partnership for Peace. NATO's Air Verification Mission is helping to verify compliance with international agreements. And NATO's Extraction Force is supporting OSCE verifiers on the ground.

After repeated violations by both sides of UN Security Council resolutions and other international obligations, NATO decided to issue a strong warning to the parties to comply without further delay. This threat of force convinced the parties to the conflict to begin negotiations toward a sustainable peace under international mediation in Rambouillet, France. NATO fully supports these peace efforts and has begun contingency planning in the event we are called upon to help implement a settlement, including with ground forces.

NATO's operations in the Balkans are important not only because they help keep the peace in an area that has historically seen too little of that. They also demonstrate clearly once again what is often forgotten: that sometimes, peace requires the capability and the willingness to use force.

These operations are also important because they demonstrate the extent to which NATO's activities help further long-standing Canadian foreign policy goals.

For example, Canada has always believed in taking action to keep the peace. Canada was one of the first countries on the ground in Bosnia under UNPROFOR - before many European countries, in fact. And let me mention that your consistent support for the United Nations makes Canada's present tenure as the Chair of the Security Council well deserved indeed. That commitment to keep the peace was also demonstrated when the UN mission in Bosnia was replaced by the NATO-led mission. 1,200 Canadian soldiers are now serving in SFOR, and are performing to their usual high standards of professionalism and effectiveness. And Canada is also providing personnel to help solve the Kosovo crisis, both with the OSCE in the province itself, and with the Extraction Force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Canada has also led the global efforts to fight the serious problem of land mines. NATO's operation in Bosnia is providing the secure environment to allow a major UN de-mining operation to take place, an operation to which Canada contributes, of course. And NATO is now working with its Partner countries on an initiative to boost de-mining efforts across Central and Eastern Europe, including assisting Partners in destroying their stocks of mines.

Canadians have always believed deeply in international law and human rights. This principle is exemplified in the fine work of Madame Justice Louise Arbour, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Parties to the Dayton Accords are responsible for arresting and turning over the persons she indicts, but NATO forces are playing an increasing role in helping to bring accused war criminals where they belong - in front of Madame Arbour, in the Hague.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

These examples demonstrate why the transatlantic link remains so healthy, and so vital. The transatlantic relationship remains the most successful example of a community of shared values and interests, and pragmatic problem-solving. We share a strong commitment to democratic values, a desire to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and effective military tools to cope with new challenges.

We must preserve this commitment, politically, militarily, and economically. As NATO takes on the increasingly complex and challenging demands of peacebuilding, it remains vitally important that all the Allies - including Canada - devote the manpower, equipment and funding necessary to maintain effective military forces. If we truly want to build peace and security, we must match our words with the deeds and resources to back them up. And the return is well worth the investment.

Working together, the North American and the European Allies can assist in establishing a democratic and prosperous Eastern Europe, support the democratic transformation of Russia and Ukraine, help prevent and manage conflicts, and help combat proliferation. These are the goals of the "transatlantic relationship of the 21st century". The Washington Summit, and the Meeting of Defence Ministers here in Toronto later this year, serve as vivid symbols of that relationship. Throughout this century, Canada has been an essential part of the Atlantic community. Today, we stand on the threshold of a new century - a century in which NATO will help fulfil our common goals of peace and security. I congratulate Canada on the role it is playing in the Alliance today, and the role it will play in the NATO of the next century.