NATO HQ Meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council 15 Dec. 2000

Address by H.E. George Papandreou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece At the outset, I would like to welcome the results of the consultations for the further development of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council as a forum of dialogue and a framework of cooperation. EAPC, together with the Partnership for Peace, continue to provide their members with excellent opportunities to exchange views and work together, promote cooperation and build transparency and mutual understanding, thus offering suitable platform for relations to further develop and security to be strengthen. Global perception of Euro-Atlantic Security/Caucasus and Central Asia Euro-Atlantic security should not and cannot be fragmented. It is perceived and pursued globally, with its various regionally focused aspects mutually complementary. Developments of the last decade in the Balkans demonstrated the need for a more focused approach on a region. Greece, fully supporting this approach, welcomes the development of the EAPC Work Plan, including its aspects promoting cooperation with Caucasus and Central Asia. She reaffirms its preparedness, with the participation of Partners from both regions, to contribute to the enhancement of Work Plan activities, by hosting and co-organizing, for instance, events, seminars or workshops, in which the would by interested. Membership Action Plan - Open Door Policy Furthermore, we strongly support the open door dimension of Alliance cooperation with Partners, reflected, in a practical way, in the Membership Action Plan Process, which constitutes an important choice for the enhancement of Euro-Atlantic security, as a whole. Realizing that it is a mutually developing process, Greece will continue to actively contribute to the efforts of aspirant countries to prove their determination and sincerity in achieving the overall goals of the Membership Action Plan. NATO's South-East Europe Initiative I would like to reiterate that Greece takes full consideration of the Alliance's South Eastern policies. My country is fully committed to the Alliances' Initiative for South-Eastern Europe and stands ready to use its own strengths and advantages for the collective benefit of the region. With a deep understanding of regional realities, contrary to the widely shared view that the Balkans are a complex region of hostile sentiments and hatred, we believe that the presence in South-Eastern Europe of a variety of ethnic groups, that have co-existed peacefully through centuries till early '90s, shows that the peoples of the region are, in fact, more tolerant of each other than others elsewhere in the world. A comprehensive stabilization policy in the area should be based on certain fundamental principles: Respect for the inviolability of existing borders according to UN and OSCE principles, discouragement of ultranationalist and irredentist tendencies, effective protection of human rights. Equally significant is the application of the same criteria for the protection of all minorities in the Balkans, on the basis of accepted international norms. Apart from the aforementioned fundamental principles, we should focus on re-establishing economic and social relation with the aim to increase prosperity, looking at the region as a whole and building on democracy, free - market cooperation and multiculturalism. The Stability Pact and the new "stabilization and association agreements" constitute a good basis for building a framework of strategy for the Balkans. Greece has been actively present from the very beginning in the Working Tables and has laid down a National Program for the reconstruction of the region. Having taken into consideration regional realities and necessities, particularly after the Kosovo crisis, Greece has taken the initiative to explore, together with interested Allies and the countries of the region, existing possibilities to foster cooperation in issues of border control and security. To that effect Athens recently hosted a brainstorming meeting tackling border security related problems. Thessaloniki hosted, in May 2000, the first regionally focused workshop on mine action. Both activities will be followed - up, next year, by appropriately organized events in Greece. In the same vein, the Multinational Peace Support Operations training Center in Northern Greece, active in the framework of bilateral cooperation program in its field of expertise, designated as a PfP Training Centre, has been made available for the purposes of the Stability Pact, NATO's South East Europe Initiative, remaining open to the whole of the Euro-Atlantic community. I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate Bulgaria and Romania on their initiatives; Bulgaria, for its initiative to coordinate necessary consultations for the establishment of the South - East Europe Security Cooperation Group (SEEGROUP) and to take over the first six - month chairmanship, and Romania, for its initiative to take the lead for the development, in a balanced and constructive approach, of South - East Europe Common Assessment Paper (SEECAP), an initiative which complements, in a flexible way, the framework of cooperation established by the Charter of Good Neighborly Relations in the region, and builds upon other regional and international efforts. We warmly welcome the Croatian chairmanship of the SEEGROUP meeting, starting the first of January next year. We are convinced that Croatia, a new member of the EAPC/PfP, will continue to contribute to enhancing cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic area, with a focus on South-Eastern Europe. FRY The SEECAP Group meeting in Bucharest on November 20th gave us the opportunity, in an informal forum of dialogue, established under the NATO's Initiative for South-Eastern Europe and developing as a regionally-led activity, to welcome the participation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Recalling the importance of recent political developments in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, we hope that the successful precedent of Croatia's admission and membership to EAPC/PfP will encourage other non-Partner countries in the region, namely the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to take the necessary steps and move closer to the European and Euro-Atlantic structures. The Euro-Atlantic community, a family of shared values, has to face successfully new challenges, but also new opportunities, make sure that the latest Yugoslav crisis be indeed the last one in the Balkans, ensuring a more secure environment for the entire Europe as Continent.