No. 2 (20/02/2004)

Adam Kobieracki, NATO Deputy Secretary General for Operation speech about the future of NATO*

It is actually my first visit to Hungary in my new official capacity as assistant secretary general for operations. In fact my new job is a reflection of how NATO has transformed and adapted to new realities. The new division the operational division in the international staff is a new institutional being created this year to better coordinate of the support of the secretary general the North Atlantic Council and different committees, but also to better serve nations and respond today concerns. It has come about as a result of the internal restructuring the NATO Headquarter and focuses specifically on the political military aspects of ongoing operations.

Let me start with some retrospective. When Hungary Czech Republic and Poland joined NATO it was viewed as equal to breaking a taboo and rightly so. Now we are about to greet seven new members. Is the second enlargement easier only because of the first precedent, no. The role and functions of the NATO have changed in the meantime too, making enlargement somewhat less than breaking a taboo. And by-the-way on the margins and somewhat light it on breaking taboos, Hungary has in fact a long-standing reputation for being a nation with a clear record of breaking taboos. If my memory sets me well it was almost exactly 50 years ago, that the Hungarian football team at the Wembley stadion the magical Magyars with Puskás, Kocsis, Bozsik, did break a certain taboo.

Ten years ago before NATO ever dreamed of becoming operational in the best sense of the word has been involved in actual operations. Then 16 NATO nations had serious discussions and policy differences over whether NATO should intervene in the Balkans. We know what the eventual outcome of the discussion was. It was the first ever NATO military operation. It did change the nature of the alliance and it did change its focus but it did not change its essence while starting its transformation. Since then we have seen a dramatic evolution of how and where NATO has been doing business. This evolution was clearly event driven. Allies have taken countless crucial decisions in support of wider goals of resorting stability and responding adequately to new threats. By doing so NATO not only maintain and enhance it1s raison d'etre, but equally strengthened its credibility. Indeed credibility is NATO's most precious asset. Everyone expects that if NATO takes on the job, it will succeed. Because it has the political will and the military means to accomplish its missions. That is why NATO prevailed in the Cold War why we made the crucial difference in the Balkans, and why so many hopes were pin on in Afghanistan. In short NATO has been extraordinary. How can we maintain NATO's credibility and in the security environment that has been radically altered?

How can this Alliance continue to deliver security in the era marked by terrorism, the weapons of mass destruction, and failed states? Clearly, to tackle these challenges transatlantic security co-operation remains as essential today as ever. Neither North-America and Europe could hope to defend against new threats in isolation. But to be effective today and into the future the Alliance retool and reorient itself with new missions, new members, new capabilities and new institutional relationships. This clear message was delivered on the Prague Summit and NATO's transformation is currently under way. So, what are the main features of this new NATO? First and foremost it will have a new approach to security. Against 21. century challenges geography no longer acts as a shield. Terrorism and spread of weapons of mass destruction are global threats. They can not be fought effectively if we stick to outdated and selfimposed geographical restrictions, and as the so called 9/11 showed so dramatically, even a faraway failed state like Afghanistan can produce deadly spillover. Hence the need for a functional approach to security whereby threats and challenges can be tackled wherever necessary. Frankly, with NATO's experience and record in the Balkans, and in Afghanistan, geography is not a limit in itself any longer. We crossed that bridge, and NATO's possible involvement in crisis response or peacekeeping operations almost any place outside Europe depends now on political consensus among nations and on the readiness of Allies to provide the necessary military capabilities for a given operation.

That's why the NATO's leadership role in the ISAF is so important. With this decision NATO has finally shared its Europe centric focus by becoming a player in Central Asia. A NATO role in Afghanistan is not only helping to bring security and stability into a country and a people that has suffered terribly it also places the Alliance firmly at the centre of the international fight against terrorism. One of the defining struggles of the 21. century. Let me be clear we are all aware of the challenges that we are facing in Afghanistan. It is not the Balkans. And in many ways it poses many more challenges to NATO. However as the secretary general said failure is not an option. All NATO nations have to understand that political decisions on launching peace or crisis response operations constitute the beginning and not the end of the process. A failure to provide military capabilities necessary for the given operation can only undermine the credibility of the entire alliance.

NATO's support to Poland in Iraq is another example the alliance's new security focus. It is also an important fact that today NATO is uniquely capable of generating commanding sustaining and supporting large multinational force for crisis operations over distance and time. For that reason NATO has become invaluable asset for the international community and will continue to being demand for robust peace support operations in future. Provided, NATO nations who will not only take right political decisions but we also take care to deliver. To remain effective however the new NATO will have to develop the modern military capabilities to do the job. We have made the rapid progress. The first elements of the NRF would be fully functional by 2006. Allies are implementing the Prague Capabilities Commitments to make improvements in key areas such as strategic lift and command and control even if we still have a long way to go. We are enhancing our defence against weapons of mass destruction and we have agreed on a radical overhaul on the military command structure to make it linear and more flexible. The new command specifically dedicated to transformation. Despite having huge number of soldiers in uniform NATO countries and in particular Europe have great difficulties deploying them toward they're needed. Allied armed forces are stretched very thin indeed, making it difficult to take on new operations. If we are to continue to be able to preserve our security and defence interest, improvements will have to be made to this so-called disability of NATO forces. Military operations are being carried out by real and not just declared armies.

The new NATO will also have more members. The goal of an enlargement process is clear, to expand the zone of stability, security, and integration that the Alliance alongside EU represents. This process will make a quantum leap forward in 2004 when both institutions will open their doors to 7 and 10 new members respectively. This historic step will consolidate Europe as a unique geographical and political space from the Atlantic to the Black sea and from the Baltic to the Balkans. Another testimony toward what can be achieved with the transatlantic solidarity. By the way don't you find it symptomatic to have a Polish representing NATO speaking to a Hungarian and international audience, speaking for the Alliance in Budapest.

This new NATO will have apparently more profound relations with non NATO countries across Europe into Central Asia, and across the Mediterranean. In the Balkans as well as in Afghanistan soldiers of many partner countries are working side by side NATO troops. This demonstrates the enormous strategic value that this partnerships have acquired. We will continue to nourish these relations. We have new ideas on combating terrorism more specific cooperation of individual partners and with new opportunities for regional cooperation. The new Alliance will also enjoy a transformed relationship with Ukraine and we have Europe's key security partner, Russia. Since May 2002 when we set up the new NATO-Russia Council and our relations have been characterized by clear sense of direction and the true spirit of cooperation. This is one of NATO's great success stories. But one that still too few people know about. Once upon a time Russia was seen as part of a problem, now it is becoming a part of a solution.

Finally the new NATO will work much more closely with the EU. Europe and North America represent the nexus of democracy, pluralism, market economy, and technological innovation. The two continents may not always like it but they do bear a unique strategic responsibility for upholding global security. It is a common responsibility and it must be exercised in common. But doing so effectively has been difficult as long as the two key institutions involved NATO the EU resided in almost splendid isolation from each other. We have set the stage for NATO to support the EU-led operations by agreeing on what are called the Berlin Plus Agreements. This will allow the Union gradually to assume more of our common responsibility for security including in the Balkans, and to become an effective security actor. The first test case if you will was in Macedonia where the EU successfully took over a NATO operation "Allied Harmony" in what then became operation "Concordia".

As similar arrangement might be agreed in the light of a possible termination of SFOR's mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, sometime by the end of next year. There has also been a marked increase in the frequence and scope of NATO-EU meetings in various formats from the ministerial level down. Aside from agreeing a concerted approach in the Western Balkan a capability group aims to ensure that NATO and EU efforts in developing capabilities are mutually reinforcing. And discussions on terrorism, proliferation are slowly starting to show some real progress too. We have more equitable burden-sharing, and if resources in both organisations are used in a most effective and efficient way possible the transatlantic relationship should benefit from a better and more sustainable balance.

This is a formidable agenda for change, and this change is set to continue. Because of that agenda of change and a long term nature of transformation that events like the 8^th NATO conference here in Bp. are extremely important and timely. There is a number of problems to be solved and plenty of issues require follow consideration in order to secure proper evolution of the Alliance for the benefit of not only European security and stability. To name just a few: should the NATO-EU cooperation on the Balkans serve as a model for overall operational relationship between the two institutions? What should be the exact geographic dimension of NATO's operational development? How to strike a proper balance between Alliance operations and security guarantees it offers to its members?

* The 8^th annual autumn NATO conference was held in Budapest on 27 November 2003, organised by the Parliament's Office for Foreign Relations. The title of the conference was The Transformation of the Atlantic Alliance in the Age of Global Threats