Speech
by the Special
Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, Bodo Hombach,
at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for this opportunity to address you.
On 10 June last year, UNSC Resolution 1244 ended the military action
in Kosovo. As always after warlike conflicts the political cry was: never
again! On the same day, the Stability Pact received a broad mandate, as
a comprehensive approach of preventative diplomacy. From the EU, the OSCE,
the G8, NATO and a large number of other states and institutions.
With the Stability Pact, the international community finally found an
appropriate and future-oriented answer for the major questions posed during
the past decade: how to have a hope of success in preventing violent conflicts,
war and expulsions in south-eastern Europe? and how to tackle long-term
the social and economic deficits?
I am personally indebted to many of you in this room. A year ago in Cologne
you gave the Stability Pact its send-off. You have lived up admirably
to the responsibilities you took on at that time. I have always found
you ready to listen. Often it was enough to telephone in order rapidly
to remove some obstacle. To mobilise resources or to overcome political
rivalries. The successes of the Stability Pact are your successes.
Our common task is huge: the sustainable stabilisation of south-eastern
Europe. So please continue to give the Stability Pact your personal support,
a support going beyond the daily political routine. It deserves and needs
that.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
NATO and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council are among the key partners
of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. Our strategic goals are
identical, we are pulling in the same direction: democracy and prosperity,
lasting peace and stability in the region, regional co-operation, integration
of the countries of south-eastern Europe into the Euro-Atlantic institutions.
Our common vision is a democratic and unified Europe without political
and economic divisions.
The end of history has not been reached, as some had predicted 10 years
ago. Many people in south-eastern Europe war grateful that NATO existed
when conflicts in south-eastern Europe proved that the prediction had
been false. Grateful that NATO acted, that it stopped further murder in
Bosnia and Kosovo, stopped further ethnic expulsions and the frontal attack
of the Belgrade regime on the values of the civilised world, and prevented
the long-term destabilisation of the entire region.
NATO also proved that the other side's reference to a "clash of
cultures" was entirely misplaced. The Alliance was there when the
human rights of Muslims had to be defended. In Bosnia, late. In Kosovo,
timely. It showed that it was ready to protect universal human values,
transcending cultural and religious divisions.
These violent conflicts have been overcome. But the peace must still
be won. Here too the Alliance, together with the EU, OSCE and its EAPC
partners has an important role to play. Alongside the OSCE, NATO is the
main actor concerning security policy in south-eastern Europe. I am grateful
for the daily peace keeping work of SFOR and KFOR.
Naturally the Stability Pact relies primarily on the contribution of
the Alliance and EAPC in the field of security when it comes to stability
projection and crisis prevention in south-eastern Europe. The activities
in the framework of the South East Europe Initiative, such as the Ad-Hoc
Working Group for Regional Co-operation in South East Europe, in the framework
of the EAPC; the Partnership for Peace, which Croatia will now join; the
Membership Action Plan; all these strengthen security in south-eastern
Europe - through regional co-operation, security dialogue and bringing
the countries of the region toward the Euro-Atlantic structures.
The extension of EAPC activities to the areas of conflict prevention
and post-conflict action, particularly in the areas of humanitarian mine
clearance and the destruction of small arms, corresponds to the priorities
of the Stability Pact. I particularly welcome the fact that, in the framework
of the Stability Pact, NATO and other partners are now also working together
on the development of a Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative.
The cross-border prevention and combating of civil emergencies corresponds
to an urgent need in the region.
This is a first beginning in the new definition of security risks in
a broader sense, and must be followed by further steps. So let us as soon
as possible also start a dialogue about how the countries of south-eastern
Europe can be involved in the overall European process of armed forces
reform. I think that the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council is an excellent
framework within which to take up these points and pursue them in depth.
I would therefore like specifically to encourage you to use this mechanism,
not least because it reaches beyond the region of south-eastern Europe.
As an example of the new synergies created by the Stability Pact, NATO
and the World Bank have developed a project for the retraining and reintegration
into the civilian labour market of demobilised military personnel in Romania
and Bulgaria. This is the first such co-operation between the two institutions.
At the same time this project also illustrates the philosophy of the
Stability Pact: in the first place the slimming-down and the professionalisation
of the armed forces make a direct contribution to the establishment of
security. In the second place, training measures are an investment also
in the economic future of the countries concerned. We consider this project
a model which could later be applied to other countries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Of course the remaining problems - particularly in Bosnia and Kosovo
- are immense. The situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is
worrying. I have just come from Montenegro where I gained a picture of
their difficult situation. Peaceful transition to democratic conditions
in Belgrade is, in spite of all our efforts, far from secured. But we
must not judge the whole of south-eastern Europe in the same way. Above
all, we should not constantly stare at the half-empty glass, rather we
should emphasise more strongly the positive developments, large and small,
the democratic change in Croatia as well as the agreement on a bridge
over the Danube between Romania and Bulgaria, and use them to push us
to renewed effort.
Positive developments in south-eastern Europe mostly do not make headlines.
Each incident in Pristina, each dead fish in a polluted river, is most
likely to have a better chance of getting a headline than the creation
of over 40 town-partnerships with concrete aid programmes for opposition
governed Serbian towns. Such examples are legion.
We have to turn around this communication. We must move away from the
cliché of the Balkans as a place of conflicts and instability.
Toward a picture of south-eastern Europe which is rid of the ghosts of
the Balkans, toward a vision of the future boom-town of Europe. We must
make clear that the europeanisation of the region is fundamentally in
our own interest. If we fail we will again be threatened with the balkanisation
of European politics.
For us, that means first and foremost: we ourselves must be convinced
of the success of our own efforts. That is true for those who are responsible
for the necessary reforms in the countries of the region, as much as for
the international community, which has committed itself to the support
of this process. Only in this way can we set in train the necessary positive
dynamic, and convince also those standing doubtfully on the sidelines,
including public opinion.
Each piece of progress made - large and small - should therefore be a
reason for communicating according to the snow-ball principle, which would
mean saying: "If we can make it there, we can make it anywhere".
That is my approach. I would ask you please to help it happen.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Stability Pact is a framework for co-ordination. It has a clear political
concept. Its catalytic and motivating effect has been demonstrated. The
worry that there might be duplication of work or rivalry has been proved
wrong. We are well beyond the phase of fundamental debate. The Pact's
structures are broad and inclusive. All participants should be able to
find their role. But bad habits do not change overnight. Instead of getting
on with it and helping, some still see themselves as spectators and think
they know better. However, old thinking has to be overcome on both sides.
Previously every country of south-eastern Europe had a big brother outside,
and most of the countries of Europe had a preferred partner in the Balkans.
That was the reason for many conflicts, sometimes even proxy-wars, or
a reason why conflicts in the Balkans became wars in Europe. The Stability
Pact is the political answer to this outdated political approach from
the 19th century. The Pact has created an upward spiral of mutual trust
and practical steps. But both sides are still mistrustful, watching to
see that the other side delivers, gives indications of confidence-building,
and that the conditionality is fair.
The Stability Pact has already achieved a lot, in the face of much scepticism:
- One year after Bernard Kouchner spoke to you, south-eastern Europe
remains firmly on the political agenda. That is a success. It was not
inevitable. The media have moved on. From Kosovo to Chechnya, then East
Timor, now Sierra Leone and the Horn of Africa.
- Regional co-operation in south-eastern Europe is better than ever.
Let me remind you of the Charter on Good-Neighbourly Relations which
the countries agreed this February. Bridges are being built, politically
and literally. Increasingly the willingness to reform is more than just
paying lip-service. In recent weeks important legislative measures were
taken in Croatia and elsewhere.
- The material support from the Funding Conference, with more than
2.4 billion Euros for the Quick Start Package, exceeded all expectations.
The financial conditions, the proportion of credits to grants, are better
than ever before. The approach of the Stability Pact was successful:
to ask the donor countries not so much for money as for the support
for fully developed projects proposed by countries of the region.
- The global economic concept developed by the World Bank for the Stability
Pact for South-Eastern Europe, the EBRD strategy for small and medium
sized enterprises, and the regional infrastructure concept of the EIB
are excellent. Together with the Investment Compact and the Anti-Corruption
Initiative developed by us, they represent a precisely defined approach
for successful development in the region.
- There is a wind of change in south-eastern Europe. The positive hope
for the future is closely bound up with the desire for a perspective
of step-by-step integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. In this area
I will remain an advocate for south-eastern Europe, just as much as
I will push strongly in those same countries for thoroughgoing reforms,
regional co-operation and individual fulfilment of the respective conditions
for membership.
- The EBRD says, and I have good examples, that the interest of investors
in south-eastern Europe is growing. At the beginning of last week I
heard the same thing even in Japan. Mobilising private capital and private
engagement is now a focus of Stability Pact work.
These are a few pieces of good news which the region so urgently needs.
For self-motivation, but also to attract investors. The ball is now in
our court. The bureaucracy is my Balkans. We have to make sure that actions
follow political words. The working structures of the Stability Pact will
therefore for now not develop any further project ideas but will focus
on monitoring the implementation of the agreed projects. I will say clearly
who is responsible if there are unnecessary delays.
The Quick Start Package of the Funding Conference, meaning starting the
agreed and financed projects in 12 months, is a declaration of war on
slowness and bureaucracy. Both are powerful opponents. But it would be
disastrous if the impression were created that, although we could agree
relatively quickly on joint military action when necessary, political
consensus just remained paper. I am in favour of constructive impatience.
Projects must now become construction sites. I am therefore pleased that,
in my battle, I have powerful allies, such as High Representative Solana
and Commissioner Patten. The latter is currently fighting energetically
to clear the backlog in paying out EU aid. I will also need to ask the
foreign ministers of the Stability Pact partners for their help in cutting
through some Gordian knots.
How we master this great challenge will be very precisely observed by
all. Can we act in a timely fashion using the existing bureaucracy and
its rules? I hear for example that World Bank procedures place a question
mark over the rapid implementation of the NATO retraining project in Bulgaria
and Romania. I do not want to, and cannot, allow that: but I will need
your help and influence in the fora of the World Bank. The large institutions
are still struggling with the concept that their actions are being observed.
They have to be pushed to present precise, verifiable timetables for each
of the agreed projects.
Ministers, ladies and gentlemen
Without resolving the basic security questions there will be no sustainable
stabilisation of south-eastern Europe, and no integration into the Euro-Atlantic
structures. Our common efforts must therefore be concentrated on building
up a preventative security culture, characterised by co-operation. The
conflicts of the past must act as a warning and a motivation.
I am grateful to NATO and the EAPC for their strong contributions to
the stabilisation of the region in questions of security policy. Each
successful project, each agreement in the framework of the Stability Pact,
has the potential to provide a positive example in the EAPC area, also
outside south-eastern Europe. A sustainable stabilisation of south-eastern
Europe will also have an effect on the neighbouring regions.
And perhaps, given the great challenges in south-eastern Europe, the
motto which I already mentioned could be taken up by others: "If
we can make it there, we can make it anywhere." Let us work on that
together; pushing further ahead with the unification of a peaceful and
democratic Europe.
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