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| Updated: 31-Jan-2006 | NATO Speeches |
NATO HQ, 30 Jan. 2006 |
Joint press point with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (Secretary General, NATO): Good morning, good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to see once again at NATO headquarters Prime Minister Sanader. We had a bilateral discussion before the Council. He was the very first Prime Minister to visit me here at NATO, very soon, in the early days of 2004, when I had become Secretary General. That creates a bond. But there are many other things creating a bond as well. And that's a reason that the Allies and myself have very welcomed to receive the Prime Minister. We had, as I said, a fruitful bilateral meeting and then a meeting in the Council where, of course, the Prime Minister gave an update of Croatia 's progress in reforms. And we'll also have an exchange of views on the situation more in general in the region. A region which I think sees important development and a region in which, I think, Croatia plays an important and constructive role. No need to mention the status talks on Kosovo and other important regional issues. But Croatia works together in the framework of the Adriatic Charter and the Southeast European Cooperation process as well. The Prime Minister indicated that this will continue and it is of course appreciated by the Allies. Of course, the reform process in Croatia was discussed. We took note and I should say we took more than note... Allies appreciated it very much as I said publicly and they've said publicly the fact that General Gotovina is now in The Hague . That was of course "a very heavy stone in the stomach" as we say in my mother tongue Dutch, "heavy stone in the stomach... on the stomach". To see progress and General Gotovina is now in The Hague . And we consider that - our Allies and I said it - as a major development in the framework of Croatia 's full cooperation with the ICTY which is, as you know, is a strong NATO position. If I mentioned reform, this is of course an ongoing process in Croatia with the assistance of the Allies. In the Membership Action Plan cycles, defence reform is very important. We're happy to see the Defence Minister be here as well this morning with us: implementation of defence reform, implementation of the plans to uphold the 2% GDP for defence spending, also a message for a number of Allies of the Alliance by the way, but also certainly for Croatia, implementation of those reforms, reform of the judicial system, economic position of returned refugees. An element which was discussed at some length and which I think is important was the public opinion in Croatia and NATO. The Prime Minister explained Allies what projects his government has. He speaks... he'll speak about those without any doubt. For Allies, it is important that more will be done. And here, again, NATO will assist in increasing the public level of support for NATO. That is important for cooperation in the first place but of course for Allies as well. And I think everything should be done by the Croatian government in the system, assisted by NATO to change this. It is important, and here I finish, to continue the dialogue, the intensive dialogue between Croatia and NATO. A number of important developments have taken place. It was crystal clear around the table that the NATO Allies fully support Croatia 's ambitions for NATO membership. Let me say once again. And I've said it many times before that I'm of a strong conviction that Euro-Atlantic integration is the only recipe, the only recipe for lasting and continuing security and stability in the Balkans. Croatia is playing an important role in that process. And then, we have, of course, the Croatia-NATO relationship in which NATO will do everything it can to support that ambition. You know, NATO's doors are open. That was reconfirmed this morning unnecessarily, but it was reconfirmed. NATO will assist Croatia wherever possible in reaching that ambition and finally it's a performance based process which concerned individual performance. Those are the three important elements which were discussed around the table. I'm very happy to greet our friend Prime Minister Sanader again at NATO. Prime Minister, please take the floor. IVO SANADER ( Prime Minister , Croatia ): Thank you, Mister Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's my pleasure to be here two years... precisely two years after my first visit to the Secretary General's Service, who was just appointed a couple of days before my visit in January 2004. And as he mentioned I was the first Prime Minister to meet with the new Secretary General. And this tradition is being held by my visit today to the NATO headquarters. And he visited Croatia in May 04, five months after his appointment, so we wait for him. And I extended this morning the invitation to the Secretary General not to break our tradition: my visit in January to him and his visit in May to Croatia . This year could be also July because we are preparing a conference on NATO in Southeast of Europe. Because Croatia is not only prepared to become full member of NATO but Croatia is aware of its role in this part of Europe . And I assured to Secretary General and North Atlantic Council that Croatia will play this role in the same time approaching EU and NATO but also partly conduct a policy as a member of the international community. There will be no single policy by Croatia toward Bosnia-Herzegovina , Serbia - Montenegro in the Southeast of Europe. But it will be part of the international efforts to achieve a lasting peace, stability and prosperity for this part of Europe . And we believe and we have the common position on that, that those countries deserve clear NATO perspective, like clear EU perspective. So we will work on it. What we did in the past was in the case of General Gotovina, Croatia 's credibility was confirmed. And that's been clearly said by Secretary General this morning but also by Ambassadors in our meeting and in our session that full cooperation with The Hague is not only our international obligation but also our domestic obligation. It's about rule of law. Croatia journalists know but also others that we have also our legislation at home. Croatia has constitutional law in full cooperation with The Hague tribunal. And that's our position. As far as the public support is concerned, we believe that we can raise the support of the Croatian public for the membership of NATO but no, no... I think there's no doubt that we need, even here, the support by NATO member States. And there are couple of member States who clearly stated that they are ready to work with us. Secretary is also ready to work with us to say and to send a clear message what is NATO about. And for me, for my government and for the Croatian leadership, political leadership, NATO is about values. Values such as freedom, democracy, rule of law, free market economy, human rights, minority rights. And we agreed that this is today. Also, NATO is becoming more and more active in humanitarian issues. So I think that we have to communicate this to our public. And I'm sure that the public support will be... will raise in this issue. As regards to the defence reform, we have still some homework to do but we are well under way. Secretary General mentioned all issues which are important. In this context, I have nothing to add. We are ready to... and working with the Secretariat and all member States also with the A3 group. And I would like to announce my visit to Tirana the end of February this next month. First, I will stay two days in Tirana. I informed the Secretary General. First day for bilateral visit to Prime Minister Berisha; but second day, the Prime Minister of Macedonia Bučkovski will join us. And we will have a three-meeting in Tirana. Also I'm preparing my visit to Sarajevo , official visit to Sarajevo because we would like to help also Bosnia-Herzegovina to as soon as possible get in the PFP, in Partnership for Peace program, but also Serbia-Montenegro. We believe that PFP is a clear perspective for both countries. But certainly cooperation with The Hague is the prerequisite. Karadzic and Mladic are the prerequisite. The last is also to mention that we will intensify and firm (?) the process of full normalization with Serbia-Montenegro. So we will be working on my visit this year, perhaps of the first half of this year for the official visit to Belgrade . All those actions I informed the Secretary General and the Ambassadors. And I think this our contribution to the efforts of the international community to achieve lasting peace and stability in this part of Europe . Q: Questions? SANADER: But certainly we expect also, last sentence by me, we expect some signals from NATO also from the Summit in Riga , some signals. We know that this is not a summit of enlargement this year. But Croatia has done, I think, a lot in achieving and meeting all criteria and we need... And I'm sure that something will be sent... some signals will be sent. Q: Secretary General, what other signal can be sent to Croatia from the summit, with the exception of saying that NATO's doors are still open? And is there any linkage with the possibility that this year you might open membership action plan from Ukraine . And Croatia should wait for 2008 in order to have Ukraine with Croatia and maybe Albania , Macedonia at the same time got an invitation. de HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, well... Let me answer you on the signal. As we discussed, the Prime Minister discussed of course with me bilaterally and also in the Council making the same remarks. My answer: that would be that nothing here is excluded; on the other hand, nothing comes automatic. Let me repeat my sentence because this is important. I say nothing is excluded and nothing comes automatic. If I would say anything comes automatic, I would leave the track-of-performance base. And I think there, the Prime Minister and I fully agree. I fully agree with. So nothing is excluded, because it's performance. And nothing comes automatic. If you mention... let's say, because that was the second part of your question, the total envelope if I may use this of NATO enlargement, my answer is basically the same. And you're not expecting any other answer from me. It is a well stated process. You know and I do know. And that goes for the different stages and steps. So that goes for PFP. And I agree with the Prime Minister, I'd like to see Serbia-Montenegro , Bosnia - Herzegovina in PFP tomorrow. You know my opinion. But they know that as long as there is no full cooperation with the ICTY like we told the Croatian government, there will be no PFP. The other nations, aspirants, you mentioned Ukraine , they have an intensified dialogue. I mean those steps are all based on performance. So you cannot and you will not and you do not expect another answer from me than the one I just gave to you. And that is not because I want to be defensive. But this is the only procedure we have and it's the only procedure which has been followed in the past which does justice to the performance-based process, individually performance-based process the Prime Minister and I spoke about. Q:Secretary General, you mentioned the steps based on performance. Question from Croatia : Why not Riga ? de HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, my answer is the same, Madam. And the answer is that nothing is excluded and nothing comes automatically. Full stop. Q: And I'm Yanka Radovic (?) from Radio 101 in Croatia, question to Secretary General, do you expect an active, more active role from Croatia's side, I mean sending more troops to NATO peacekeeping missions during this year, before Riga and everything else? de HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, the Prime Minister made an important remark in general by saying that Croatia will substantially increase its participation in ISAF in Afghanistan , discussions and talks are going on. That is highly appreciated by NATO, highly appreciated to raise its support, strong support, an active support for KFOR and Kosovo and Croatia 's participation in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan . And it comes to no surprise to you how much importance we attach to the successful mission and operation, I should say, of ISAF in Afghanistan . So that is highly appreciated. And the answer to your question - I can't speak on behalf of the Prime Minister - but my answer to your question is yes. And I see the body language from the Prime Minister that my answer is along the same lines. UNIDENTIFIED: Yes, yes. Q: One more question please, thank you. My name is Sabolic (?). I work for a daily from Split , Croatia . I wonder. It's about the policy of conditionality that European Union has toward the candidate countries, including Croatia . If Croatia is not complying with the conditionality policy of European Union is it going to have some problems with you. Or do you have... do you have a separate view on this. It's about the proposal of the Commission of the Economic Union in the Southeast of Europe which Croatia is not very happy with. de HOOP SCHEFFER: My name also starts with an "S", but it's not Salomon Madam. I'm saying this because what the EU and NATO have in common - and Prime Minister Sanader has underlined this - is they're both value-based organizations. And the Prime Minister mentioned the value. I don't need to repeat that. NATO is its discussion with its parent countries has a separate track. I hope the tracks are, as much as they can, parallel. But NATO discussion is a discussion which is a separate discussion from the European Union. Having said that, if basic values are not here too that will resonate inside NATO as much as in the European Union. But NATO has its own process Allies, the 26 NATO Allies have their own process. And the European Union has its own process. MODERATOR: It's all the time we have for. SCHEFFER: Thank you very much. |
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