Address

Merci Amiral Rosiers pour votre gentille introduction.  C’est toujours un plaisir pour moi d’être parmi autant d’amis et de collègues, réunis ici ce soir.

Je tiens à remercier le Général Charles-Henri Delcour, Chef de la Défense Belge, d’avoir également participé à l’organisation de cet événement dans ce lieu magnifique du Château de Val Duchesse que beaucoup d'entre vous connaissez déjà. Je voudrais aussi remercier les Anciens du Collège de leur présence parmi nous ce soir, je leur souhaite la bienvenue à ce qui promet d'être une soirée agréable pour tous.

C'est la deuxième fois aujourd'hui que j'ai le plaisir de rencontrer les étudiants du Stage pour Officiers Supérieurs du Collège de Défense de l'OTAN.  J'espère que votre programme d'aujourd'hui a été à la fois instructif et enrichissant, et qu’il sera aussi intéressant au cours des deux jours suivants.  J'encourage chacun de vous à vous mêler au groupe des anciens qui sont présents parmi vous, afin de profiter également de leur expérience.  Je suis d’ailleurs ravi de voir que beaucoup d'entre vous êtes venus accompagnés ce soir.  Votre présence féminine ajoute une touche de grâce à cette soirée, et je vous remercie pour le soutien continu que vous apportez à vos partenaires en uniforme.

Permit me, if you will, to quote General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, on this day in 1952, resigned from his post as the 1st Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and later became the 34th President of the United States.  This particular quote is just as relevant to NATO’s current operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo as it is to our actions in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia.  He said “Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.”  He also said “Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”  Both of these quotations are very relevant while we have embarked on the journey to the new Strategic Concept, which will charter NATO’s road map for the next decade.

You, students of the NATO Defence College, will hopefully embrace this thought as you continue your careers in the military, with a special understanding that our actions today are for the good of tomorrow.  On a lighter note, General Eisenhower also said “An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows,” so to avoid being labelled as an intellectual, I will end my comments here and give the floor to LtGen Wolf-Dieter LOESER, your very able Commandant of the NATO Defence College.
Merci, thank you.
 
I would like to thank General Charles-Henri Delcour, the Belgian Chief of Defence, for co-hosting this wonderful event with me in this beautiful venue of the Castle of Val Duchesse that many of you are familiar with already.  Allow me to also acknowledge the Anciens du Collège who are present with us tonight, and I welcome them warmly to what promises to be a delightful evening for all. 

This is the second time today that I have had the pleasure of meeting with the students from the NATO Defence College Senior Course.  I hope that your engagements today and throughout the next two days have been, and will be, both instructive and enlightening, and I encourage each of you to mingle with the group of Anciens who are present among you for an opportunity to learn more than from what is being offered through your official visit.

I am also delighted to see that so many of you are accompanied by a significant other this evening.  Your feminine presence adds a touch of grace to this soirée and I salute you for the continued support that you provide to your partners in uniform.