International Seminar “From Dialogue to Partnership. Security in the Mediterranean and NATO: Future Prospects” Rome, Italian Parliament 30 Sept. 2002

Address by Hon. Sen. Lamberto Dini, Deputy Speaker of the Italian Senate Mr Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr Secretary-General, Distinguished Parliamentarians, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Senate joins the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies in welcoming the Secretary-General of NATO. It is an honour to have you with us today at this international seminar, organised jointly by the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Press and Information Office and the Institute of International Affairs. Today, more than ever before, we have to demonstrate our capacity and our will to encourage every opportunity for dialogue, both national and international, on the issues which, in this globalised age, have now permanently encroached beyond what was formerly the almost exclusive preserve of international diplomacy. International politics have become a constant subject in everything we read, a constant topic of conversation, and a constant daily concern for most of the world's citizens. We are witnessing the dissemination of masses of information being broadcast and instantaneously updated in ways that were unthinkable only a few years ago, dealing with the international scenarios and crises, and the national political stances being taken up to address them. While this is certainly a response to a growing demand for knowledge and information, it also raises the problem of how to read and interpret the mass of data which is now becoming so abundantly available. For we know that international politics was, and remains, a highly complex and sensitive field, and that in order to understand and master it, specific skills, careful attention and keen intellectual capacities are also needed. This presents us today with a fresh challenge and new responsibilities. The technicalities of foreign policy, through the mediation of the worlds of culture and particularly politics, must be simplified and popularised to provide public opinion with all the instruments and all the keys for interpretation it needs in order to be able to play a meaningful part, in full possession of the facts, and hence democratically, in such a crucial debate as international security. This being so, we warmly welcome such initiatives as today's Seminar, which help to strengthen contacts between the world of politics, the world of culture, the military, the mass media and all those who have been given direct international responsibilities. I am therefore particularly happy to welcome, together with Lord Robertson, all the members of the Atlantic Council and the Ambassadors of the countries belonging to the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue, who have been cooperating on security issues within an institutional framework for many years. I am delighted above all that such distinguished personalities have also agreed to engage in this open debate today with representatives of the world of international culture, on new proposals, new ideas, and new possible ways of enhancing mutual familiarity and understanding, and of strengthening co-operation in the Mediterranean area. The Mediterranean is a basin with deeply-rooted and distinguished cultural and religious traditions, and the peoples that live around its shores have inherited an ancient legacy of knowledge and wisdom: an intellectual curiosity, which urges them to meet, dialogue, and become more familiar with one another. The Mediterranean lies at the heart of the European, Islamic and Asian civilisation, and is therefore a natural crossroads of experiences and opportunities. But today the Mediterranean is also an area with an economic potential that is still seriously skewed between the north and the south, affected by massive migration flows; it is suffering from the anguish caused by a modernity whose pace has accelerated here and imposed itself, often brutally, on local traditions and identities, throwing up problems with which all the countries overlooking the Mediterranean Sea are familiar, and with which they have to come to terms daily, with Italy to the fore. Neither can we ignore the fact that other, even more disquieting, factors of instability are threatening our region. The Mediterranean - with the Balkans regional crises, and above all the Middle East issue, still unresolved - is conditioning Euro-Atlantic and international stability today, more than ever before. This awareness has spread well beyond its geographic borders. In recent years, a tremendous effort has been made by the European Union to focus on the Mediterranean with the Barcelona Process, and by NATO with the Mediterranean Dialogue, to enhance co-operation and foster mutual confidence and trust with the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Much progress has been made. But the efforts deployed have been hampered by events that have created diffidence regarding the very nature of NATO as a defence organisation, despite the fact that, following its eastward enlargement, it should be recognised as an effective instrument for collective security. The persistence and the worsening of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also held back progress with the Barcelona Process, making it impossible for it to conclude a specific agreement, a Charter, for the security of the Mediterranean, that Italy had advocated and promoted. The tragic events of 11th September have since added new, disturbing dimensions to the security of the Middle East, and to our planet itself. Rooting out terrorism in all its forms, and removing the instruments through which it operates, still remains the most urgent task to which the community of civilised nations must continue to address itself. Compounding all this, dark clouds are now gathering and the winds of war are blowing around the Iraqi issue which all of us want to see resolved without recourse to arms. Precisely because of the serious tensions of the present time, we have to welcome every opportunity to create common bases for an enhanced dialogue, and lay the foundations, as this Seminar proposes to do, for more complete political and security cooperation and a NATO-Mediterranean partnership, that could make a decisive and significant contribution to the cause of peaceful, prosperous and friendly coexistence between our nations. I therefore wish our guests a successful meeting, and once again renew my warm welcome to the Secretary-General of NATO, Lord Robertson.