Parliamentarians from all 19 NATO member states will meet in Berlin (17 - 21 November) for the 46^th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at a potentially critical juncture for the Alliance. The session follows hard on the heels of the US presidential elections, which saw differences between the candidates over the United States ¹ future role in NATO peacekeeping. A large delegation from the US House of Representatives and Senate will be in Berlin, along with delegates from both the Russian Duma and Federation Council following a year-long absence by the Duma. In all, 17 associate delegations, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe (see over) will attend.

Two issues remain at the centre of the debate about Western security and NATO's future coherence: US plans for a National Missile Defence (NMD) shield against states of concern, and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The parliamentarians will also review the situation in south-eastern Europe after the bloodless revolution in Yugoslavia. A plenary session in the German Bundestag on Tuesday 21 November (a.m.) will be addressed by German Chancellor Gerhard SCHRÖDER, Eberhard DIEPGEN, Governing Mayor of Berlin, and Assembly President Thomas BLILEY (USA). There will be question and answer sessions after speeches by NATO General-Secretary Lord ROBERTSON, General Joseph RALSTON, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and Milo DJUKANOVIC, President of Montenegro. The plenary meeting will also elect a successor to Assembly President Thomas BLILEY, and 3 new Vice-Presidents, and then debate resolutions drafted by the five specialist committees* during their meetings on 18 and 19 November in the

Bundesrat (these are also open to the press). As well as NMD and ESDP a wide range of international security issues will be discussed, including crisis management, energy security,

the proliferation of small arms, and environmental threats from Soviet-era nuclear submarines.

Civilian Affairs Committee: panel on international peace-keeping and peace-support with US Gen. William NASH, UNMIK administrator for the divided city of Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, and Ambassador Vladimir SHUSTOV, co-author of the influential September report ("Brahimi panel") on the reform of UN peace-keeping. Also: ESDP and non-military crisis management, and EU candidate states¹ problems of border security and immigration. Speakers include German Interior Minister Otto SCHILY and Poland¹s Secretary of State for European integration, Andrzej ANANICZ.

Defence and SecurityCommittee: will consider calling for an Alliance-wide study on the strategic ballistic missile threat. It will also look into the implications of ESDP, including the threat it could pose to NATO solidarity. Speakers include: Dr. Geoffrey FORDEN, physicist at the Centre for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute for Technology, author of the Congressional Budget Office study on the costs of NMD.

Economics and Security Committee: speakers include Robert EBEL, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, on Today's Energy Crisis: Illusory or Prophetic?¹. Ebel is author of Chernobyl and its Aftermath, Energy Choices in Russia and Energy in the Near Abroad. Mr. Diego RUIZ PALMER, who formerly headed NATO's Defence Support Division, will speak on the financing of defence capabilities with particular reference to improvements in Europe. Three reports are also being studied: on trans-Atlantic trade, NATO defence budgets, and on East-West Economic Cooperation and Convergence on Developing the Economies of South-Eastern Europe.

Political Committee: main issues will be NMD, future challenges for the Alliance, and latest developments in the Balkans. Also: ESDP, NATO Enlargement and NATO-Russian relations, Russian Foreign Policy, and conflict-prevention and crisis-management. Speakers will include German Foreign Minister Joschka FISCHER, on future challenges to NATO; Karsten VOIGT, Coordinator for German-American Cooperation, on the Transatlantic Partnership; the writer and Balkans expert Tim JUDAH; and Pavel FELGENHAUER, Russian foreign policy expert, on the security issues in the Caucasus and Central Asian republics.

Science and Technology Committee: main issues will be energy alternatives for the 21^st century, the diffusion and control of small arms, and nuclear security in Russia. Guest speaker Dr. Alexander PIKAEV, from the Carnegie Centre, Moscow, will discuss problems such as the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear submarines and warheads, and the smuggling of weapons-grade nuclear material.

Background: The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, founded in 1955 with a Brussels-based secretariat, brings together 214 national parliamentarians from the 19 NATO countries. The 17 associate delegations from Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia participate in

Assembly activities and meetings. The 17 associate delegations are: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine.