Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Florence 25 May 2000

Address by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, H.E. Dr Dimitrij Rupel Mr Secretary General, Excellencies, Dear Colleagues and Friends, It is a pleasure to address you today in this charming city of Florence. I am also honoured to be able to address you as the President d'Honneur of the EAPC. Firstly I would like to thank the Secretary General Lord Robertson for his welcoming remarks and Mr Bodo Hombach for his in-depth briefing. May I also warmly welcome Croatia that has joined our ranks. You may rest assured that Slovenia as a neighbouring country is particularly interested in Croatia's future Euro-atlantic integration. We hope that in time, when conditions allow, other countries in the region, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, can join the Partnership for Peace and the EAPC. Today's Ministerial agenda: Effective use of EAPCIPfP in Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management is an important contribution to our overall endeavo'uis to secure the lasting peace and stability in the entire Euro-atlantic area and especially in the region southeast of the Slovenian borders. Crisis management today cannot be addressed separately by only one structure or organisation. Recent experience, unfortunately extensive, has proven that any serious crisis in Europe has to be addressed by all existing Euro-Atlantic structures regardless of which one is to take the leading role and which a supportive one. Every crisis has different aspects: a military one, an enonomic one, a social one, etc. The EAPC and PfP mechanisms are closest to such a notion because they have proved themselves politically and also on the operational level in the theatre. Their further enhancement is not an enhancement for their own sake but it is a natural evolution. In the further development of these structures we believe that special attention will have to be paid to the enhancement of crisis management capabilities, non-military as well as military. Of course input is required in this process. By that I mean the lessons learned. I will limit myself only to one. As Secretary General Lord Robertson stated in his address to the Wilton Park conference in Slovenia two weeks ago, the Allied Force Campaign would not have been possible without the substantial political support as well as concrete operational contribution by several Partner countries, particularly from the region. We have clearly demonstrated our Allied-like contribution to the campaign. Likewise it is important to note that the Allies extended to us a kind of a security guarantee during the operation. Both of these facts underline the important step forward between the Allies and Partners. The mechanisms which enabled all these contributions were EAPC and PfP. We understand, that it is not easy to satisfy everybody's aspirations as far as participation in the political decision shaping, making and taking is concerned. But generally we can see, that every new step of the partnership development is accompanied by an ever-higher level of political participation in the crisis management process. Deepening and broadening our partnership through the Enhanced and more Operational Partnership, Operational Capabilities Concept for the NATO-led PfP Operations, PfP Training and Education Enhancement Programme, participation in regional initiatives like South Eastern Europe Initiative and Support for the Stability Pact and for the aspirant countries also through their MAP activities, all together contribute for getting better and better prepared not only to act together, but also to decide together. We all know that sometimes it is more difficult to take a decision than to act upon it. Dear Colleagues, The comprehensive Euroatlantic political agenda is extensive and complex: it includes bringing peace and stability in Southeastern Europe, enlargement of NATO, a new boost to relations with Russia, improvement of military capabilities, fight against WMD proliferation, maturing transatlantic relations through ESDI and further enhancement of the PfP relations. But I would like to focus only on the Enlargement issue and the conference Slovenia jointly organised with Lithuania last week in Vilnius. The Vilnius Conference revealed high level of convergence of views concerning NATO's role in the European Security Environment. We can talk about its historic value because all nine aspirant countries expressly reaffirmed their commitment to the completion of the project of a Europe whole and free and the establishment of mutual cooperation and solidarity which is not to end by the accession of individual countries to the Alliance. Hopefully, the nine aspirant countries gathered in Vilnius, have demonstrated that we can maintain the Enlargement issue on the Euroatlantic agenda. We suppose that we can reach the membership in the Alliance by a cooperative approach. The involvement in the further development of the ESDIICESDP is in the vital security interest of Slovenia. Our strategic priorities regarding the membership in both the EU and NATO stem from the basic facts of the indivisibility of security and of the interlocking institutions in the Euro-Atlantic area and the fact that cooperative security as important as indispensable as it is in contemporary crisis management, can not substitute collective defence as a foundation of the Euro-atlantic security. Mr Secretary General, Dear Colleagues and Friends, To conclude, I would like to stress that it is not by chance that the Partners who are also aspirants for the membership in the Alliance, are active and hopefully reliable participants in the NATO-led Peace support operations. This is simply our way of expressing our determination and interest to actively and concretely contribute to peace and stability in the troubled areas in our southeastern neighbourhood. It is also needless to say how important it is not only for the aspirant countries but also for NATO and its credibility, to extend new invitations at the Summit in 2002. Slovenia will be ready by that time and certainly expects an invitation. It is my sincere wish that the invitations will be extended to all the countries which fulfil the criteria and contribute to the overall security, stability and confidence building in the entire Euro-Atlantic area. This is how the process of building Europe whole and free will remain on the right track. Thank you.