Brussels 27 February 2001 Source: U.S. Departement of State

Press Availability with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson Secretary General Robertson : Thank you. We just finished a very timely meeting of the North Atlantic Council of foreign ministers, and it has been a great pleasure to welcome today the new Secretary of State of the United States, Colin Powell. His presence here today is a reminder of the vital importance of the transatlantic link, which is at the very heart of NATO, and also the continuing US commitment to this whole alliance. It's become somewhat of a four-year media ritual to greet every new administration with predictions of a widening gap between the United States and Europe. And as somebody who's been around for quite some time, I have to say such predictions have always underestimated the strength and the value that NATO has always had to its members, and still does. That durability is based on NATO's ability to act decisively and to adapt to new circumstances in a fast-changing world. There is certainly no shortage of challenges facing us, and we discussed a number of them at today's meeting. Today was a good opportunity to look at the state of transatlantic security and what needs to be done to keep it in a good state of health. Fundamental to that is our capabilities, because NATO is a military alliance, and to act decisively, it needs the tools to do its job. There can be no credibility without capability. We also all know that Europe has not, over the years, been pulling its full weight, and needs to spend more and spend better to create a more equal partnership. And that is good for the United States, too, because at present, if Europe wants to act, it's NATO or nothing -- and that means the US or nothing. There can be, and will be, no substitute for NATO, which remains the cornerstone of European defense. But it's right that Europe should act together where NATO as a whole is not engaged, and there is no difference between the United States and Europe on this. The main other issue we discussed this morning was the Balkans, and what we all agree is an alarming situation. You will have seen already my statement and I won't repeat it. But I will say that this is a time which should be a time of hope. The man who was the focal point of so much tragedy, Milosovic, is now gone. But what is needed now is the courage and the imagination for the political leadership of the region to rise above past bitterness and seize the opportunities now before them. At the moment, to be blunt, too few of them are doing that. However, the new Yugoslav government has shown that it's learning the lesson that Milosovic never learned that brute military force does not produce lasting solutions. And its peace plan for southern Serbia is an important first step towards a lasting and a fair peace. Now we need the ethnic Albanian community to start talking with the Serb authorities and for the extremists to end their violence immediately. It's also unacceptable for the ground safety zone to be used as some kind of safe haven for extremists, so we are preparing for a phased and conditioned reduction of the ground safety zone. We're still working out the details of how this will be done, but the Commander of KFOR will retain his authority over the zone. We also urge the Serb authorities to move fast to put in place confidence-building measures so that all ethnic groups in southern Serbia can believe that their voice is heard and that their interests are reflected. It will not be easy, and it will need sustained commitment from all the international community to help, hence my decision to appoint a personal representative to the area. But in the end, we can only do so much. We can help create the opportunity, but it's up to the people of the region to take advantage of what's on offer, and I hope that they do. Thank you very much. Secretary Powell: Well, thank you very much, George. It was a pleasure and an honor to meet the NATO foreign ministers that I will be working with this morning, and I would like to thank Lord Robertson for arranging this introductory discussion on a range of issues affecting the Alliance. I appreciate the opportunity to express my commitment to the Alliance and to the prospect of candid and frequent consultations with our allies. For over 50 years NATO has provided the basis of peace and prosperity for all of its member states. It is as critical today as ever. All of our actions will be guided by the goal of strengthening the Alliance as we move forward. The United States is committed to the success of peacekeeping forces in the Balkans. With our NATO allies, we will review carefully and on a regular basis the right types and levels of our forces. We are determined to meet our commitments to stability in the region, and we would avoid any steps that would jeopardize the alliance's success so far. We are committed to ensuring that as we review our force posture in the Balkans, we do so in full consultation with our NATO allies. The simple proposition is that "we went in together, we will come out together." And in the process of doing so, make sure that we have the right mixture and balance of forces at all times. This alliance has succeeded in maintaining strategic stability through many difficult and trying decades. We have done so because we have worked together and worked through problems together. As we look at future threats, we work for stability through offensive reductions in our nuclear force posture. We look at non-proliferation efforts as part of our strategic framework. We look at diplomatic efforts and we look at missile defense. We believe it is our responsibility to create a missile defense that protects the United States, our allies and friends, all, against the threat of missile proliferation that could deliver weapons of mass destruction to any of our countries. We should use all available instruments to deter and defend against that threat. We are committed to close allied consultations to address these issues together prior to deciding on specific technologies or architecture. And I told my colleagues this morning that we will be consulting with them as we conduct our own review in going forward. We will also consult with other governments including, of course, Russia and China. NATO enlargement is a key part of the process of uniting all of Europe. A decision to invite in qualified new members is among the most serious the Alliance could make. It threatens no one, the enlargement of NATO, and contributes concretely to stability in Europe. At the same time, we will work to strengthen NATO's other partnerships. We hope Russia will become a more active participant in Alliance activities and objectives. We welcome a European security and defense policy that strengthens both the Alliance and the European Union. Just as President Bush is committed after a thorough review of our national goals and means, to seeking new resources for America's security - so we hope, too, that as we move forward with ESDI, the nations will seek new capabilities to add to the overall capability of NATO and the EU, and that they will do it, and especially the planning for the use of ESDI forces, within the context of NATO planning activities. The United States supports ESDI, as President Bush indicated last week in his press conference with Prime Minister Blair. We also welcome all steps to improve these capabilities, including the European Union's headline goal. Ladies and gentlemen, no other institution has done as much to keep the peace and been so important for our collective security as NATO. I began my duties as a friend of NATO many, many years ago as a young lieutenant, and now I return as Secretary of State representing my nation to the NATO councils. And I do it with profound respect for the achievements of the Alliance and with a commitment to contribute to its success in the future. Thank you very much. Q: A question to both of you please on the Balkans. Lord Robertson, you say you don't want the ground safety zone to be used as a safe haven for extremists. If the geographical area of the zone is reduced, to whom is it going to fall to deal with those extremists? Is it going to be NATO troops, or is it going to be the forces of the Yugoslav authorities themselves? And to you, Secretary of State. One of the key problems for NATO in the border zone in policing this area has been the unwillingness of the troops of many NATO countries to really get to grips, out in the field, with the infiltrating Albanians and so on. Often we have heard that American forces have been somewhat restricted in their roles as well. Are you willing to say that, if it does indeed come to a requirement for a show of force by NATO, that American troops will be more willing to take an active role rather than just policing the roads and so on? Secretary General Robertson: Well, can I say first that the responsibility for not using the ground safety zone for violence rests with the armed extremist groups who are using it at the moment, and the call therefore, is for them to stop using that and stop using violence in that area. And that is a common message that comes from every direction. Clearly, the Yugoslav army will only go back into the ground safety zone when there are precautions in place, when there are observers to watch what is happening, and when there have been a number of other confidence-building measures. That is why I used the word "conditioned" as part of my qualification on any release of the ground safety zone. And I think it is very welcome that we now have a government in Yugoslavia that recognizes that there has to be a political dimension to bringing peace to parts of their country. The fact that they are willing to make these moves to include the majority Albanian population in that area and to consider other confidence-building measures is a sign about both how far and deep we have gone in changing attitudes in that area. But we are determined that that area will not be used for the furtherance of violence. I hope that the ethnic Albanians in the area will recognize that they have now a historic opportunity to gain rights denied to them for the last decade, and that this is their chance to grasp the opportunity, and they should do so now. Secretary Powell: I trust that the approach that the Secretary General has mentioned of the conditioned reentry of Yugoslav forces will deal with this problem in due course. I think that NATO has to keep watching this and examining what options, military options, should be considered, and I know the military authorities will do so. And the United States will participate in whatever actions the Alliance believes is necessary. I think we should do everything to see if it is possible to solve this without those forces becoming belligerent and perhaps even creating a more difficult situation than what we have now. But as I said earlier, we will work within the Alliance on this issue. Q: Mr. Secretary, do you now know more about the details of the Russian proposal, if it's a proposal, for missile defense? Do you see it as a serious one? Is it an attempt simply to throw the U.S. off track? Is it an attempt to generate discord with the Alliance? And are the Allies a little more adjusted now to this program? Secretary Powell: I got very good responses from all of my colleagues this morning on missile defense. I think there is a common understanding within the Alliance that this is a real threat, and this is a threat that must be looked at, not only by the United States, but by the Alliance. The Russian proposal I think was noteworthy in the fact that, as a result of this proposal, they are saying to us they recognize the nature of this threat as well and want to work with us on it. The details, the programmatic details of the proposal, are still quite sketchy and I know they are working their way through it. Minister Ivanov and I talked about it last week and I look forward to further discussions with him on it -- exactly what they have in mind, the nature of their proposal. And at the same time, I will share with them as we go along the nature of our conceptual thinking and the proposals that we might come up with. So I think there has been progress and a greater understanding, not only within NATO, but between NATO, the United States and Russia, of the nature of the threat and the need to do something about it. Q: Mr. Secretary, I have a question on NATO enlargement. The thinking in NATO is that military capability will be a very important consideration. I just came back this morning from Washington, from a series of interviews there, and I heard in Congressional circles that it makes little sense to take in countries like Slovenia, Slovakia, or the Baltics because they bring little military capability, but on the other hand, they impose important new obligations on NATO. Would you share that thinking? Secretary Powell: Well, any nation that comes into the Alliance must bring in capability, and NATO picks up obligations, as it has obligations for all the current member nations. So I think what we have done is put out some standards, given guidance and told those countries who are aspirants what would be required of them for them to be considered as serious candidates. People can look at it at this point and say, well, it doesn't look like they can make it, or they can make it. But, I think it is wise for us to set out those rules and examine the performance of the aspirants over the next year or so as we approach the Prague Summit of 2002. Q: Secretary of State, what would be your message today for the Albanian extremist group who are provoking incidents in Macedonian these days? And for the Secretary General, what are the measures that NATO could take with the Macedonian army and police to protect the border? Secretary Powell: The clear message is "cease and desist." This is not the time to start up new conflicts in Europe. This is not the time to resort to violence while we are seeing the spread of stability and peace throughout the region, and so these two areas are of great concern to us this morning - the situation in the southern part of the zone that we talked about earlier, and now and the situation on the Macedonian border. And I applaud the actions that the Secretary General has taken to deal with the second issue, and I will turn to him to complete the answer. Secretary General Robertson: I spoke to (Macedonian) President Trajkovski this morning and I circulated his letter to all the Foreign Ministers today and we've discussed that, and you will have seen in my statement the conclusion of what we are doing. In addition to what is in the statement, I've decided with the Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Ralston that there will be a mission immediately to Skopje, both military and political mission there, to see what the situation is on the ground, and to see where there might be other areas that we can help in the specific dilemma that the authorities of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are facing at the moment. We take this matter very seriously indeed, and are determined that no group of armed extremists is going to disturb a sensitive balance in the area, which is critically important for the region. Q: Lord Robertson, have you had any initial responses from the local Yugoslav authorities to these ground safety zone proposals? And Secretary Powell, can I ask you if the United States now regards the ethnic Albanians as a greater threat to stability in the region than the Serb authorities? Secretary General Robertson: We are in constant contact with the Serb authorities and with Deputy Prime Minister Covic. As you know, there is another meeting going on in this headquarters this afternoon, not one being convened by me. And I think at the end of that we may be able to tell you more about the responses that have taken place. But since we believe that the Serb plan for Southern Serbia is one that is a good starting off point, we are engaged in a discussion with them on how we might take the matter forward -- carefully making the point that I have just made to you here, that is in our statement. That is that we need to see confidence-building measures in place in order to allow this matter to proceed, but we are willing to implement those changes, conditioned changes, in order to see an improvement in the situation. Secretary Powell: The extremists are the source of the problem in the ground safety zone, and I hope we can use the plans that Lord Robertson has just described in this conditioned approach to reduce that level of violence so that we don't have to revert to a new level of violence by a severe conflict in order to bring the situation under control. Q: Secretary Powell, I'd like to ask you how do you make the development of a European Security and Defense Force remain complimentary to NATO and mutually reinforcing? And for both gentlemen, Lord Robertson, you said in the beginning that every four years you are back here reassuring everybody that the Alliance is stronger than ever. Be that as it may, ten years after the end of the Cold War, there are sort of movements afoot, suggestions made, that there is a slow evolution in world events, in which Europe is being drawn eastward and the United States increasingly does have its gaze toward the rise of China. I wonder if you could comment, concretely, on that reality and give us an idea of differences that may emerge over NMD and European rapid reaction force are really an expression of this evolutionary change in emphasis and direction between Europe and the United States. Secretary Powell: The great strength of NATO, for as long as I have been associated with NATO, is that these issues have come along where there has been serious debate, and NATO has always succeeded in rising to the demands of the debate and finding a way forward. I think ESDI can easily fit within the context of this kind of debate and in the context of strengthening NATO. First and foremost, the member nations have committed to increasing their capabilities so that whatever they might do with ESDI does not detract from what NATO might have to do. By having the planning activities all together, it seems to me we're not in any way suggesting that there is a divergence between NATO and this new set of capabilities under the EU. So rather than thinking this weakens the Alliance in any way, I think it has every potential to strengthen the Alliance if we just keep focusing on those capabilities and these joint planning activities as President Bush referred to them last week. Secretary General Robertson: I think I would say to you that we, every four years, have to go through the reassurance, but that is against predictions that are rarely based on fact. Today's meeting of the 19 foreign ministers of the Alliance was a good and substantive one, dealing with a lot of the threats and challenges the Alliance will face in the future and determined to do that together. European Defense will allow that to take place on a much more sensible basis. It is designed to compliment NATO and not to rival or duplicate NATO in any way. And that was a very clear message that Secretary Powell gave, and it is a very clear echo that he got back from the other 18 ministers here today. Whatever the differences about missile defense, there is no difference at all on the fact that there is a threat and that we need to meet that threat. And that is what the discussions will be about over the next few weeks. Last week I went to the Kremlin, and was told that the Russians agreed that there is a threat, and that even the Russians agreed that it must be met and that there is a military solution that they are forward putting to it. So I think we have established quite a considerable degree of common ground -- between the United States and its European Allies, and between NATO and the Russians as well. And that is a very good foundation for moving forward. Nobody is going to split this Alliance. It is too important for the future safety of generations on both sides of the Atlantic, and the determination to make that clear today, at this very first meeting of the North Atlantic Council with the new administration present, was clear and unambiguous.