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A New Security Architecture
- The challenges we will face in this new Europe cannot
be comprehensively addressed by one institution alone, but only
in a framework of interlocking institutions tying together the
countries of Europe and North America. Consequently, we are
working toward a new European security architecture in which
NATO, the CSCE, the European Community, the WEU and the Council
of Europe complement each other. Regional frameworks of
cooperation will also be important. This interaction will be of
the greatest significance in preventing instability and divisions
that could result from various causes, such as economic
disparities and violent nationalism.
The Future Role Of The Alliance: Our New Strategic Concept
- Yesterday, we published our new Strategic Concept.
Our security has substantially improved: we no longer face the
old threat of a massive attack. However, prudence requires us
to maintain an overall strategic balance and to remain ready to
meet any potential risks to our security which may arise from
instability or tension. In an environment of uncertainty and
unpredictable challenges, our Alliance, which provides the
essential transatlantic link as demonstrated by the significant
presence of North American forces in Europe, retains its enduring
value. Our new strategic concept reaffirms NATO's core functions
and allows us, within the radically changed situation in Europe,
to realise in full our broad approach to stability and security
encompassing political, economic, social and environmental
aspects, along with the indispensable defence dimension. Never
has the opportunity to achieve our Alliance's objectives by
political means, in keeping with Articles 2 and 4 of the
Washington Treaty, been greater. Consequently, our security
policy can now be based on three mutually reinforcing elements:
dialogue; cooperation; and the maintenance of a collective
defence capability. The use, as appropriate, of these elements
will be particularly important to prevent or manage crises
affecting our security.
- The military dimension of our Alliance remains an
essential factor; but what is new is that, more than ever, it
will serve a broad concept of security. The Alliance will
maintain its purely defensive purpose, its collective
arrangements based on an integrated military structure as well
as cooperation and coordination agreements, and for the
foreseeable future an appropriate mix of conventional and nuclear
forces. Our military forces will adjust to their new tasks,
becoming smaller and more flexible. Thus, our conventional
forces will be substantially reduced as will, in many cases,
their readiness. They will also be given increased mobility to
enable them to react to a wide range of contingencies, and will
be organised for flexible build-up, when necessary, for crisis
management as well as defence. Multinational formations will
play a greater role within the integrated military structure.
Nuclear forces committed to NATO will be greatly reduced: the
current NATO stockpile of sub-strategic weapons in Europe will
be cut by roughly 80% in accordance with the decisions taken by
the Nuclear Planning Group in Taormina. The fundamental purpose
of the nuclear forces of the Allies remains political: to
preserve peace, and prevent war or any kind of coercion.
European Security Identity And Defence Role
- We reaffirm the consensus expressed by our Ministers
of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen. The development of a European
security identity and defence role, reflected in the further
strengthening of the European pillar within the Alliance, will
reinforce the integrity and effectiveness of the Atlantic
Alliance. The enhancement of the role and responsibility of the
European members is an important basis for the transformation of
the Alliance. These two positive processes are mutually
reinforcing. We are agreed, in parallel with the emergence and
development of a European security identity and defence role, to
enhance the essential transatlantic link that the Alliance
guarantees and fully to maintain the strategic unity and
indivisibility of security of all our members. The Alliance is
the essential forum for consultation among its members and the
venue for agreement on policies bearing on the security and
defence commitments of Allies under the Washington Treaty.
Recognising that it is for the European Allies concerned to
decide what arrangements are needed for the expression of a
common European foreign and security policy and defence role, we
further agree that, as the two processes advance, we will develop
practical arrangements to ensure the necessary transparency and
complementarity between the European security and defence
identity as it emerges in the Twelve and the WEU, and the
Alliance.
- We welcome the spirit in which those Allies who are
also members of the Twelve and the WEU have kept the other
members of the Alliance informed about the progress of their
ongoing discussions on the development of the European identity
and about other issues, such as their peace efforts in
Yugoslavia. Appropriate links and consultation procedures
between the Twelve and the WEU, and the Alliance will be
developed in order to ensure that the Allies that are not
currently participating in the development of a European identity
in foreign and security policy and defence should be adequately
involved in decisions that may affect their security. The
Alliance's new Strategic Concept, being an agreed conceptual
basis for the forces of all Allies, should facilitate the
necessary complementarity between the Alliance and the emerging
defence component of the European integration process. As the
transformation of the Alliance proceeds, we intend to preserve
the operational coherence we now have and on which our defence
depends. We welcome the perspective of a reinforcement of the
role of the WEU, both as the defence component of the process of
European unification and as a means of strengthening the European
pillar of the Alliance, bearing in mind the different nature of
its relations with the Alliance and with the European Political
Union.
- We note the gradual convergence of views in the
discussions concerning the developing European security identity
and defence role compatible with the common defence policy we
already have in our Alliance. We feel confident that in line
with the consensus in Copenhagen, the result will contribute to
a strong new transatlantic partnership by strengthening the
European component in a transformed Alliance. We will help move
this development forward.
Relations With The Soviet Union And The Other Countries Of
Central And Eastern Europe: A Qualitative Step Forward
- We have consistently encouraged the development of
democracy in the Soviet Union and the other countries of Central
and Eastern Europe. We therefore applaud the commitment of these
countries to political and economic reform following the
rejection of totalitarian communist rule by their peoples. We
salute the newly recovered independence of the Baltic States.
We will support all steps in the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe towards reform and will give practical assistance to help
them succeed in this difficult transition. This is based on our
conviction that our own security is inseparably linked to that
of all other states in Europe.
- The Alliance can aid in fostering a sense of security
and confidence in these countries, thereby strengthening their
ability to fulfil their CSCE commitments and make democratic
change irrevocable. Wishing to enhance its contribution to the
emergence of a Europe whole and free, our Alliance at its London
Summit extended to the Central and Eastern European countries the
hand of friendship and established regular diplomatic liaison.
Together we signed the Paris Joint Declaration. In Copenhagen
last June, the Alliance took further initiatives to develop
partnership with these countries. Our extensive programme of
high level visits, exchanges of views on security and other
related issues, intensified military contacts, and exchanges of
expertise in various fields has demonstrated its value and
contributed greatly to building a new relationship between NATO
and these countries. This is a dynamic process: the growth of
democratic institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe and
encouraging cooperative experiences, as well as the desire of
these countries for closer ties, now call for our relations to
be broadened, intensified and raised to a qualitatively new
level.
- Therefore, as the next step, we intend to develop a
more institutional relationship of consultation and cooperation
on political and security issues. We invite, at this stage of
the process, the Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria,
the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the Republic of Estonia,
the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of
Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Romania, and
the Soviet Union to join our Foreign Ministers in December 1991
in Brussels to issue a joint political declaration to launch this
new era of partnership and to define further the modalities and
content of this process. In particular, we propose the following
activities:
- annual meetings with the North Atlantic Council at Ministerial level in what might be called a North Atlantic Cooperation Council;
- periodic meetings with the North Atlantic Council at Ambassadorial level;
- additional meetings with the North Atlantic Council at Ministerial or Ambassadorial level as circumstances warrant;
- regular meetings, at intervals to be mutually agreed, with:
- NATO subordinate committees, including the Political and Economic Committees;
- the Military Committee and under its direction other NATO Military Authorities.
This process will contribute to the achievement of the objectives
of the CSCE without prejudice to its competence and mechanisms.
It will be carried out in accordance with the core functions of
the Alliance.
- Our consultations and cooperation will focus on
security and related issues where Allies can offer their
experience and expertise, such as defence planning, democratic
concepts of civilian-military relations, civil/military
coordination of air traffic management, and the conversion of
defence production to civilian purposes. Our new initiative will
enhance participation of our partners in the "Third Dimension"
of scientific and environmental programmes of our Alliance. It
will also allow the widest possible dissemination of information
about NATO in the Central and Eastern European countries, inter
alia through diplomatic liaison channels and our embassies. We
will provide the appropriate resources to support our liaison
activities.
The Conference On Security And Cooperation In Europe
- We remain deeply committed to strengthening the CSCE
process, which has a vital role to play in promoting stability
and democracy in Europe in a period of historic change. We will
intensify our efforts to enhance the CSCE's role, in the first
instance by working with the other participating CSCE states to
ensure that the Helsinki Follow-Up Meeting in 1992 will be
another major step towards building a new Europe. The CSCE has
the outstanding advantage of being the only forum that brings
together all countries of Europe and Canada and the United States
under a common code of human rights, fundamental freedoms,
democracy, rule of law, security, and economic liberty. The new
CSCE institutions and structures, which we proposed at our London
Summit and which were created at the Paris Summit, must be
consolidated and further developed so as to provide CSCE with the
means to help ensure full implementation of the Helsinki Final
Act, the Charter of Paris, and other relevant CSCE documents and
thus permit the CSCE to meet the new challenges which Europe will
have to face. Our consultations within the Alliance continue to
be a source of initiatives for strengthening the CSCE.
- Consequently, we will actively support the development
of the CSCE to enhance its capacity as the organ for consultation
and cooperation among all participating States, capable of
effective action in line with its new and increased
responsibilities, in particular on the questions of human rights
and security including arms control and disarmament, and for
effective crisis management and peaceful settlement of disputes,
consistent with international law and CSCE principles. To this
end, we suggest:
- that the CSCE Council, the central forum for political consultations, continue to take decisions on questions relating to the CSCE and the functions and structures of the CSCE institutions;
- that the Committee of Senior Officials serve as the coordination and management body between Council sessions and that it acquire a greater operational capacity and meet more frequently, with a view to ensuring the implementation of decisions;
- that the CSCE's conflict prevention and crisis management capabilities be improved: as one contribution, in addition to the functions entrusted to it by the Paris Charter, the means available to the Conflict Prevention Centre should be strengthened and made more flexible to enable it to fulfil the specific tasks assigned to it by the CSCE Council and the Committee of Senior Officials;
- that specific tasks based on a precise mandate by the CSCE Council or the Committee of Senior Officials might be entrusted to ad hoc groups;
- that the decisions taken at the Helsinki Follow-Up Meeting ensure complementarity among CSCE activities in the security field including, inter alia, conflict prevention, arms control and consultations on security;
- that consideration should be given within the CSCE to develop further the CSCE's capability to safeguard, through peaceful means, human rights, democracy and the rule of law in cases of clear, gross and uncorrected violations of relevant CSCE commitments, if necessary in the absence of the consent of the state concerned;
- that the Office for Free Elections be transformed into a broadly focused Office of Democratic Institutions to promote cooperation in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law;
- that the monitoring and promotion of progress on human dimension issues be continued in the form of periodic meetings of short duration on clearly defined issues;
- that further political impetus be given to economic, scientific and environmental cooperation so as to promote the basis of prosperity for stable, democratic development.
Arms Control
- We strongly support President Bush's initiative of
27th September 1991 which has opened new prospects for nuclear
arms reduction. We also welcome President Gorbachev's response.
We particularly applaud the decision of both sides to eliminate
their nuclear warheads for ground-launched short-range weapons
systems. The Allies concerned, through their consultations, have
played a central role in President Bush's decision which
fulfilled the SNF arms control objectives of the London
Declaration. They will continue close consultations on the
process of the elimination of ground-based SNF warheads until its
completion. We will continue to work for security at minimum
levels of nuclear arms sufficient to preserve peace and
stability. We look forward to the early ratification of the
recently signed START agreement.
- We note with satisfaction the recent achievements in
the fields of conventional arms control and disarmament. We
reiterate the paramount importance we attach to the CFE Treaty
and call upon all CFE signatories to move forward promptly with
its ratification and implementation. We urge our negotiating
partners to work with us to reach substantial agreements in the
CFE IA and CSBM negotiations, and remain dedicated to achieving
concrete results by the time of the CSCE Helsinki Follow-Up
Meeting. We welcome the resumption of the Open Skies
negotiations; we look forward to agreement on an Open Skies
regime by the time of the Helsinki Meeting as an important new
element in greater openness and confidence-building in the
military field.
- The Helsinki Meeting will mark a turning point in the
arms control and disarmament process in Europe, now with the
participation of all CSCE states. This will offer a unique
opportunity to move this process energetically forward. Our goal
will be to shape a new cooperative order, in which no country
needs to harbour fears for its security, by:
- strengthening security and stability at lower levels of armed forces to the extent possible and commensurate with individual legitimate security needs both inside and outside of Europe;
- conducting an intensified security dialogue within a permanent framework and fostering a new quality of transparency and cooperation about armed forces and defence policies; and
- promoting effective mechanisms and instruments for conflict prevention.
- The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and
of their means of delivery undermines international security.
Transfers of conventional armaments beyond legitimate defensive
needs to regions of tension make the peaceful settlement of
disputes less likely. We support the establishment by the United
Nations of a universal non-discriminatory register of
conventional arms transfers. We support steps undertaken to
address other aspects of proliferation and other initiatives
designed to build confidence and underpin international security.
We also deem it essential to complete a global, comprehensive and
effectively verifiable ban on chemical weapons next year. We
welcome the positive results of the Third Review Conference of
the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, in particular the
decision to explore the feasibility of verification.
Broader Challenges
- Our Strategic Concept underlines that Alliance
security must take account of the global context. It points out
risks of a wider nature, including proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, disruption of the flow of vital resources and
actions of terrorism and sabotage, which can affect Alliance
security interests. We reaffirm the importance of arrangements
existing in the Alliance for consultation among the Allies under
Article 4 of the Washington Treaty and, where appropriate,
coordination of our efforts including our responses to such
risks. We will continue to address broader challenges in our
consultations and in the appropriate multilateral forums in the
widest possible cooperation with other states.
- The North Atlantic Alliance was founded with two
purposes: the defence of the territory of its members, and the
safeguarding and promotion of the values they share. In a still
uncertain world, the need for defence remains. But in a world
where the values which we uphold are shared ever more widely, we
gladly seize the opportunity to adapt our defences accordingly;
to cooperate and consult with our new partners; to help
consolidate a now undivided continent of Europe; and to make our
Alliance's contribution to a new age of confidence, stability and
peace.
- We express our deep appreciation for the gracious
hospitality extended to us by the Government of the Italian
Republic.
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