At the NATO Information Conference Sarajevo, 2 July 1998

Speech by H. E. Dr. Andrs Simonyi Head of the Hungarian Mission to NATO and WEU Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a privilege and an honor for me to be able to address this most distinguished audience on the theme "In partnership with NATO - an experience of a Central European country". I was glad to receive the invitation to this conference just as to the courses in Oberammergau where I permanently deliver lectures to senior officcials and officers of the three communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am representing a country, which probably is the closest of any of the countries where your speakers at this conference are coming from: we are simply neighbors. Hungary is interested in making sure that your internal development, the stabilization with the assistance of the international community, IFOR and SFOR in which Hungary has played a part, results in a thoroughly democratic neighbor. With Bosnia and Herzegovina Hungary will want to cooperate in the economic, the political, cultural and ultimately in the military field as well. The cooperation has an importance with regard to prosperity, stability and security of your country, of my country and of Europe as a whole. Without stability there is no development. Without development you will hardly be able to fulfill your dreams, those of your communities and of your children. It is our whish and desire that as many countries as possible from our region will be closely cooperating with NATO and as many of our immediate neighbors take full advantage of Partnership for Peace. Let me state here that Hungary will work very hard and tirelessly to create the conditions so you will be able to become a participant of Partnership for Peace. I can state here that when the time comes and Bosnia-Herzegovina is ready to join the large family for Partnership for Peace, we will support you.. The greater part of the work to be done however rests primarily on you politicians and the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ladies and Gentlemen, The last 8 years Hungary has come a long way from breaking down a command economy and a one party system in order to establish a full-fledged market economy, well-functioning democratic institutions, a multi party system, further good neighborly relations, make major steps towards Euroatlantic integration and reforming its armed forces and putting it under civilian - democratic control. These have all been obvious requirements as we approached NATO for accession. However I must state clearly we did not go through our democratic reforms and we did not create a stable market economy in order to please NATO or the European Union. We did it in the interest of Hungary. Without these results Hungary would not be able to modernize itself and would not be able to prosper. Let me just say a few words about some of the issues I consider to be of outdtanding importance. First for the democratic institutions: We have just recently held our third democratic elections since the systemic changes in 1989 and with each election the Hungarian institutions of democracy are becoming stronger and stronger. We have also made sure that while institutions are strengthened, the individual is finding its proper place in society. The individuals are not at the mercy of institutions but on the contrary: democratic minded and democratically thinking, tolerant citizens make out the democratic society. In this respect a thoroughly democratic and free press and media has played and continues to play an extremely important role giving a strong support to the citizen as a pillar of our society. Secondly we have had to go through the hardships of establishing a market economy. Believe me that even in a country which has had considerable efforts in the past in reforming the command economy the new realities of the market which in many ways had to be "tamed" came as a shock to society. However today we know that a socially sensitive government can make best use of the creative energies of society under the circumstances of the free and liberal market that is open to the world. We have created political and financial stability in order to attract as much investment as possible. This has paid of Hungary now is without one of the most prosperous nations in Central Europe. Thirdly I want to stress the efforts that we have been putting into stabilizing our relations with our neighbors. This needed a lot of concessions and understanding as well as goodwill have led to an improvement of relations with basically all of our neighbors. One example, the exemplatory relations between Rumania and Hungary, stands out as one that is worth to copy, and we can offer this as our experience to other. Fourthly let me also say a few words about the reform of the Hungarian military. As you know we inherited from the Warsaw Pact a lopsided military that was considered by society at large as an outcast. We started serious steps in reforming the Hungarian armed forces including the downsizing from 15o.ooo to 45.ooo today. We have introduced major changes in order to make sure that the Hungarian military as an institution is not an alien body within the democratic structures of society. It now fits and strengthens our democratic institutions. Also our accession to NATO required reforms and making the armed forces interoperable with NATO, in order to be able to act together if and when it becomes necessary. Last but not least we had to introduce proper democratic and civilian oversight over the armed forces in order to make sure that there is a clear political control, and there transparency in the way the military utilizes the Hungarian taxpayers money. This led to a new and better relationship between civilians and the military. Ladies and Gentlemen, In all these efforts our cooperation with NATO was a source of inspiration and practical support. Our participation first in the North Atlantic Cooperation Council and now the Euroatlantic Partnership Council have been an important element for establishing cooperation with the Alliance. It also meant that the open and democratic character of the way NATO functions, the importance of consensus building has become visible. In January 1994, NATO summit launched Partnership for Peace. It was not exactly visible in the beginning that this will be come an important and lasting institution in itself within the European Security architecture. Partnership for Peace has been the most important single outside instrument in order to assist the reform process related to the armed forces in Hungary and I gather in many other Central and Eastern European countries. It has made practical cooperation possible and it has contributed immensely to the results leading us to our invitation to join NATO. We were therefore the first ones to join Partnership for Peace.This relationship has provided the opportunity for our generals, officers and non-commissioned officers as well as civilian experts to become familiar with the Alliance military practices and procedures. It has also helped to gain experiences on how to adapt the Hungarian military and civilian structures in order to best serve our interest as well as our membership in NATO. Ladies and Gentlemen As you very well know Hungary together with the Czech Republic and Poland was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at the Madrid Summit last July. This was a major acknowledgement of the achievements we have made in all the above mentioned fields. This result did not come easy and required a great deal of sacrifice not the least from our military. The three invited countries are now well on the way to becoming full members. Just last week Spain as the eleventh country ratified the accession procolls of the three invited nations and we are fast approachingthe end to the ratification process. In the meanwhile we are diligently learning. We are learning how the Alliances political structures work and we are continuing our preparation of our national structures in order to make sure that we can fully contribute and take advantage of the Alliance membership from day one of accession. Of course our membership will not results in building any walls of separation from our neighbors. On the contrary Hungary has made clear that as it accedes to the Alliance it will want to make sure that it will be of help in the Central and Eastern European region to those countries who want to advance their integration process to Europe. Therefore we are fully aware of our responsibility in making the accession process a total and complete success and we will to participate actively in and build on Partnership for Peace. We will be more than happy to share valuable experiences we gained during our preparations as a members of the Euro Atlantic Partnership Council and PfP with your country as well. While we cannot guarantee to anyone that the process of reform will be painless, we will want to make sure that you know that you can count on us in sharing our own experiences. Ladies and Gentlemen, Do not forget that not only you, not only your communities but also the international community including my country has had to pay dearly for the war that ravaged this country. Hungary has been deeply involved in the process of stabilizing peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina through IFOR and SFOR. As you know our engineers, whom I am going to visit tomorrow, have been also participating in the reconstruction process to repare the damages of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I will therefore want to repeat what I have stated at the beginning: Hungary is your friend in Central Europe and it will remain a friend. We want to make sure that the efforts that you are making in order to bring lasting peace to your communities will be successful. We will want to make sure that rather sooner than later it will be possible to concentrate to assist your efforts in building your economy rather than on the military efforts. I am very pleased with what I have seen during my last and present visit and with the progress that you have made. It is in this spirit that I want to tell you that I am glad to have been able to share some of my thoughts with you and I look forward to meeting many of your citizens, civilians, generals and officers, Bosnians, Serbs and Croats alike in the future and share with you all the experiences of a neighboring friendly country.