Ministerial Meeting of the Euro- Atlantic Partnership Council 8 Dec. 1998

Austrian Declaration Wolfgang SCHSSEL, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria Today's meeting takes place at a moment at which the discussion on the future of European security and defence has distinctly livened up. Just yesterday the foreign ministers of the European Union held a first orientation debate on this subject in the General Affairs Council. I also assume that this important reflection process will be continued at the Vienna European Council and beyond. Austria believes that we must enter this difficult debate with an open mind and without preconceived ideas or reservations. In the field of crisis management, Europe needs fully functioning decision-making structures and effective access to military capabilities, notably for dealing with Petersberg tasks. It cannot be our goal to unnecessarily duplicate existing structures. On the contrary, it is essential that we succeed in shaping the future European security architecture on the basis of mutually reinforcing institutions. The conclusions of the June 1996 meeting of the European Council in Florence already made the point that discussions on the question of future relations between the Union and the WEU would also have to be seen in the light of the results of the NATO Ministerial in Berlin. In the same way, it seems obvious to me that the efforts that NATO is undertaking in the run-up to the Washington Summit on the subject of a European Security and Defence Identity are of importance for the internal deliberations of the Union on the future of the Common Foreign and Security Policy as well. Conversely, the debate within the Union is also likely to have repercussions on the dialogue within the EAPC on a politico-military framework for NATO-led peace-support operations. Austria participates actively and with great interest in this important work. From an Austrian point of view, in Kosovo, the international community has recently developed an interesting and promising model for a cooperation between the existing security organisations and structures that is based on a division of labour: The Kosovo Verification Mission of the OSCE, the "extraction force" set up by NATO, the air surveillance by the Alliance and the efforts for a political solution of the conflict undertaken on behalf of the Contact Group and the Union naturally constitute the core of the international efforts. As far as the European Union is concerned, about two-thirds of the OSCE-"verifiers" shall most probably come from EU-countries; the WEU Satellite Centre in Torrejón is involved in the airspace-surveillance on the basis of a formal request by the Union and a formal agreement with the FRY; furthermore, the EU Special Envoy to Kosovo, the Austrian Ambassador in Belgrade,Wolfgang Petritsch, supports the endeavours of US-mediator Ambassador Chris Hill for a political solution of the conflict. Particularly in the Western Balkans, NATO and the European Union also come into contact in some areas ot their routine work. SFOR and ECMM but also the aid programme ECHO are evidently in regular contact. In addition, important initiatives by both organisations are under way in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of humanitarian mine clearance. The ECHO aid programme has also been supporting a number "rehabilitation projects" since 1996 through SFOR, particularly in the Banja Luka area. These are some of the reasons why I welcome the opportunity to have a first informal exchange of views, in my capacity as President of the Council of the Union, with the Secretary General of NATO on current issues such as Bosnia and Kosovo, following this meeting. To conclude, just a brief comment on the development of Austria's participation in the Partnership for Peace: On the basis of a decision by the Austrian government I recently informed Secretary-General Solana that Austria is now prepared to cooperate with NATO, its members and the other PfP-participants in the full range of peace support operations, that is to say also in areas beyond peace keeping. We shall, of course, continue to shape this enhanced co-operation in the framework of the PfP-Planning and Review Process and the Individual Partnership Programme as well as on the basis of Austria's constitutional law in the field of security and defence. We have taken this step because the scope of enhanced Partnership for Peace in the military area is essentially the same as that covered by the Petersberg tasks of the WEU, that have been included in the Treaty of Amsterdam. At the same time, we are aware of the importance of PfP in ensuring interoperability of partner's armed forces for the purposes of co-operation in European peace-opera-tions. Participating in enhanced PfP will thus also help Austria to prepare herself for the new prospects that the Amsterdam Treaty opens up in the field of European crisis management. This is thus another example for the successful interplay of "mutually reinforcing institutions" and further evidence of the positive contribution that our Euro-Atlantic co-operation makes to the development of Europe's security architecture.