Brussels 16 October 2003

Lessons of NATO involvement in the Balkans Presentation of H.E. Mr. Boris Tadic Minister of Defence of Serbia and Montenegro at the conference "Securing Peace: NATO’s Role in Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution" Honorable Secretary General, Distinguished participants, From the end of the Second World War through to the end of the Cold War period, Europe granted the World the most valuable strategic asset – the peaceful Europe. Being part of the Southeast Europe, the Western Balkans should and have to grant the same to the rest of Europe. However, that must not be an isolated goal. In next one decade, the Western Balkan countries must try to undertake the same kind of transformation that Western Europe needed 300 years for. That transformation is a part of a completion process of Europe. The completion of Europe is potentially the greatest change in the world politics since the Peace of Westphalia. The involvement of NATO in the Balkans in the last decade taught us all that the integration of the Western Balkan into the Euro-Atlantic framework is in the best interest not only of the countries in the region but Europe as well. The comparatively young democracies in the Balkans must not be forgotten and left without continuous support until the process of the democratic institution building and the rule of the law implementation is finalised. While helping the countries to move forward, NATO and the EU must not forget to clearly keep an open door for the membership of all Balkan states in Euro-Atlantic structures. The history of the Balkans notes many alliances of ones against the others in the region - the effects have always been disastrous and traumatic. The main characteristics of the contemporary times are globalization and modern regionalization to which the state borders do not present an obstacle. The state borders cannot present a barrier to Euro-Atlantic civilization values, especially not within the area, which is a part of Europe, both in terms of geography and civilization. In that respect, NATO should continue its support for regional cooperation in security and all other fields between Balkan states. Our wish to strengthen the regional dimension of NATO integration arises from the fact that Serbia and Montenegro shares numerous security challenges with its neighbours. That is why Serbia and Montenegro would benefit not only from its own progress towards the integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures, but from the progress of the others advancing along the same lines. We are already actively participating in SEEGROUP and RACVIAC and hope to join South East Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) and participate with our troops in South Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG). While supporting Albania’s candidacy to chair SEEGROUP in 2004, I would like to declare our willingness to take that position in the future. In the meantime Serbia and Montenegro is willing to support Albanian Chairmanship of the Group by chairing one of the working groups. I hope we can all agree that Western Balkan countries that have been part of the problem would now like to become part of the solution. I believe that this development should be seen as an advantage by NATO in its effort to acquire the role of global actor and player. Many would agree that an ambition to strengthen NATO’s geopolitical dimension and capability of external projection may be realized by means of two aspects: through crisis management capacity and through enlargement. The role of NATO in peacekeeping missions and crisis management is gaining on importance. I am convinced that, through its missions in the Western Balkans, NATO increased its potentials in both areas. Although there are clearly many positive developments in the Balkans, the presence of international forces in the region is still needed for keeping the peace, guaranteeing the stability and supporting implementation of civilian aspects of the both Dayton Agreement and UN SC Resolution 1244. Return of refugees and internally displaced persons and cooperation with ICTY are two priorities for political stability and reconciliation in the region. My country has gone to great lengths to capture and extradite to the Hague tens of inditees. We are adamant to fulfill all outstanding obligations towards ICTY and are open for any support of our friends in those matters (e.g. General Mladic case). Serbia and Montenegro is also prepared to do its share of protection of peace and democratic values in the world by participating in peacekeeping missions around the world and is currently developing capacities for such a demanding task. Ladies and Gentlemen, Since the democratic changes in Serbia in October 2000, cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro and NATO has been a successful one. That particularly refers to the joint operations such as: resolving the crisis in Southern Serbia, the deployment of our forces in the Ground Safety Zone, and the opening of the air corridors over Serbia and Montenegro for the use by the NATO forces in the region. Members of our Armed Forces attended training courses and seminars in various NATO and Partnership for Peace member states. The NATO Agency NAMSA is active in the Small Arms and Light Weapons Reduction Program. Serbia and Montenegro is clearly committed to the values and standards of the Partnership for Peace programme and NATO. In first seven months of my Ministerial term several important changes were introduced in the defense sector of Serbia and Montenegro. These changes include among others putting for the first time General Staff of the Army as well as military intelligence and security agencies under the direct command of the Ministry of Defense, introduction of civil service, great many personal changes in the Armed Forces not the least by introducing more civilians in the Ministry of Defense structures. More reformist moves are very soon to follow. We are currently finishing our work on a new set of doctrinal documents that would determine the complete concept of the future defense sector reform in Serbia and Montenegro. These documents are listing terrorism, arms proliferation, human, arms and drugs trafficking and other forms of organised crime as the main security challenges Serbia and Montenegro are facing. These challenges are shared by our neighbours and wider international community alike and cannot be overcome without an integrated approach. Our army that would be reformed according to such doctrinal premises would not stand a single chance answering to the new challenges of the modern world outside the system of collective security. This is why we are realizing with the great worry the fact that our integration in Partnership for Peace programme is not going to happen in the near future. This factor is putting the credibility of the democratic underwriters of the reform, and even the reform itself, at a great risk. Honorable Secretary General, We have greatly appreciated the support you offered to us at the early stage. It has encouraged us to raise the pace of the defense reform process to the very maximum. But right now we are at the very critical stage where we have raised the expectations by setting up the dynamics that we cannot keep on our own.