NAC Ministerial Budapest, Hungary 29 May 2001

Opening Statement Press Conference by Lord Robertson, NATO Secretary General Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Jó napot kívánok! I am very pleased to be here today in Budapest, for this historic meeting of NATO Ministers in one of the newest member states of the NATO Alliance. Hungary has taken its full and rightful place in NATO and the Euro-Atlantic community; and NATO has found its place in this historic, Austro-Hungarian capital. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prime Minister Orbán, Foreign Minister Mártonyi, and the rest of the Hungarian government for hosting this Ministerial meeting and to the many, many people from both Hungary and NATO who have worked so hard to make this meeting a success. I also want to thank the people of Budapest for their patience with the inevitable traffic jams, and their famously generous hospitality. Köszönöm. Today, Ministers focused on a number of key elements of our trans-Atlantic agenda the situation in the Balkans, the strengthening of Europe’s defence role, and the need to address existing and emerging challenges to Euro-Atlantic security. There has been signficant progress on NATO’s agenda since our meeting in February. NATO’s efforts are succeeding. Ministers took note of the many positive developments, and gave guidance to further efforts where more work must still be done. Concerning the Balkans, we discussed the fundamental, long-term progress being made toward building lasting peace and stability in this region. There is more hope today in the Balkans than at any time in the past decade. We are in the midst of the successful, peaceful return of Yugoslav and Serbian forces to the Ground Safety Zone in southern Serbia the direct result of decisions taken by NATO Foreign Ministers in February. I welcome the courageous decision of the ethnic Albanian armed groups to delimitarise and join the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities in a new political process. I also commend the Serbian authorities for their pursuit of confidence-building measures, implementation of a general amnesty, and launching a meaning political dialogue all while exercising maximum restraint on the part of security forces. This new, Serb-Albanian co-existence and co-operation shown, for example, in multi-ethnic police patrols is an example for the wider region to follow. It is the best news in the Balkans since Milosevic was ousted eight months ago. Where the brutal military actions of the past have failed, peaceful democratic politics are now succeeding. I hope that we will soon see greater Serb-Albanian cooperation in Kosovo as well. Ministers called on all parties to support strongly the Constitutional Framework promulgated by UN Special Represenative Haekkerup, and to take part in the provincial elections that will take place on 17 November. The future of Kosovo depends on it. Tomorrow, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Svilanovic will address the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council yet another milestone in the greatly improving relations between NATO and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NATO-Yugoslav relations have never been closer. Ministers also discussed NATO’s six-month review of the SFOR peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATO Ministers are unanimous and strong in backing the SFOR mission. The job is not yet completed, and NATO Ministers expressed full solidarity in dealing with the challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina together. As Secretary of State Colin Powell repeated again today, “We went in together, and we will come out together.” Ministers also expressed their strong support for the government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as it faces the challenge of armed extremists attacking government security forces and occupying villages in the north of the country. NATO fully supports the security, stability, and territorial integrity of this nation, and condemns the unjustified attacks of these armed groups. A band of armed thugs must not be allowed to destroy a multi-ethnic democracy. These senseless attacks must stop. The political dialogue launched by the National Unity Government involving the democratically elected representatives of all the people of the nation must take over. There can be no place at the table for those who have taken up arms against this democratic government. Ministers welcomed the efforts of EU High Representative Solana to promote a political approach to the current crisis, and lent their full support to the government in Skopje as it aims to address the underlying political causes of the crisis. The government must show firmness and flexibility. A lasting solution can only be achieved by political means. Ministers today continued their ongoing dialogue concerning existing and emerging challenges to NATO security, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They discussed the means of addressing these challenges, and U.S. thinking about the role of deterrence and missile defence. The challenges to NATO security are something that all Allies will face together. Secretary Powell did not come with a specific plan to be supported. Rather he emphasised that the US wanted to share its thinking before decisions are made, and this desire was warmly welcomed. This NATO “thinking process” will continue for some time to come. Finally, I am aware that the media has been predicting a NATO crisis over the development of the European Union’s Security and Defence Policy. I am afraid I have to disappoint you by saying that there is no crisis indeed, progress is well underway. Rumours of the death of ESDP have been greatly exaggerated. As seen in our common efforts in the Balkans, NATO-EU cooperation is already very strong. More remains to be done, and I am confident that further progress will be achieved very soon. For my part, I stressed yet again the vital importance of developing strong defence capabilities. There is no credibility without capability. We all know that there may be crises in the future that may require a military response. But whether nations turn to NATO to carry out some future mission, or whether they turn to the European Union, the defence capabilities will have to be there in advance if engagement by either organisation is to be possible. This means tough decisions must be taken now to build the right kind of defence forces, and ensure all the required funding. But without such decisions, our options in responding to future crises will be severely limited. We do not want to be stuck riding a paper tiger. I will stop here, and would be pleased to answer your questions.