NATO Headquarters 9 Dec. 2004

Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, Michel Barnier at the North Atlantic Council meeting News 08/12/2004 - NATO NATO Foreign Ministers meet in Brussels Events Programme of the Foreign Ministers meeting at NATO HQ on 8 and 9 December 2004 Mr Chairman, Allow me to begin on a personal note. This is the last session of our Council with the participation of Colin Powell. I would naturally like to thank him for his remarks and convey to him our feelings of respect and gratitude. At a difficult moment, he displayed an understanding of situations and of men. That attitude was important for our organization. Colin Powell has contributed much to our Alliance. It is thanks to him that the recent enlargement of the Alliance, and the modernization process decided upon at the Prague Summit, have gone smoothly. This has proved important for the transatlantic relationship upon which NATO is founded. We must continue these efforts to transform the Alliance. This also requires regeneration of the transatlantic dialogue. The commitment to the transatlantic relationship which we all share does not, on its own, offer a guarantee against differences of view when our Alliance has to confront new challenges. We very probably need to do better in order to maintain the effectiveness of this essential relationship. I shall make two observations: First observation: our dialogue must be regenerated, rendered more diverse and placed on a more regular footing, as the Secretary-General has said, because the challenges are new and the Alliance can't just respond to them on an emergency basis, as is often the case for crises and operations. We need more often to talk politics among ourselves. Second observation: we must better recognize, in NATO, that Europe has changed and will continue changing. This is obviously the case with the reunification of our continent, with the enlargement of NATO and the EU. But politically, too, the European Union has transformed itself. It has today become a fully-fledged partner of NATO in crisis management. It would have been unthinkable, five years ago, for the EU to take over from NATO in Bosnia. The dialogue between North America and Europe no longer takes place solely in NATO. That between the United States, or Canada, and the EU is also contributing to it, and will do so increasingly. This transformation of the transatlantic relationship also requires us to review the way we do things in NATO. I firmly believe, however, that the transatlantic relationship will emerge only stronger and more alive from such a review. I think our organization has everything to gain from this revamped approach. Concerning Ukraine, I want to salute the efforts of the European mediators, Javier Solana and Presidents Kwaśniewski and Adamkus, undertaken in close agreement with the EU, to help ensure that the new elections are held under democratic conditions and preclude the danger of violence. But it must be clear that the only issue which prompted our action was democracy and the concern that the will of the Ukrainian people be respected. We know what an impact these developments are now having on our relations with Russia. We must give the lie to the feeling, in Moscow, that Ukraine is a country whose fate could become the object of rivalry between the allies and Russia. Our concern is for the genuineness of the elections, and that alone. The presence of international observers is therefore important, as Javier Solana and Colin Powell have stressed. Afghanistan must remain our priority. France is doing her bit in the efforts there. We are prepared to make an additional contribution to ISAF in order to bolster security for the spring parliamentary elections. Two questions arise: that of synergies between Enduring Freedom and ISAF; that of the fight against drugs. How can the synergies between the military forces on the ground be improved? Various formulas may be envisaged. But a closer alignment of the two operations, which are different in nature, can succeed only if the efforts of all the Allies in Afghanistan remain balanced. Support for the Afghan authorities in the fight against drugs is now a matter of high priority. These efforts must be part of a global strategy: there needs to be a stronger commitment on the part of the Afghan authorities than there is today and a contribution from the international community, through the G8, to assist in the development of a substitution economy – and also an effort by the States of the region. Military action may be one element of this strategy. But it cannot be a substitute for it. The Afghan authorities must remain responsible, and visibly so, for implementing this policy, particularly when it comes to coercive measures such as crop eradication and the arrest of traffickers. We must also no doubt seek a more effective synergy between the civilian efforts by G8 countries and military action which may be undertaken in support of the authorities.