No. 29. (10.03.97)     A Month of the Euro-Atlantic Integration  (September 1997)

September 2nd

• The German Klaus-Peter Klaiber will be the NATO General Secretary's Deputy for Political Affairs -- announced General Secretary Javier Solana. Klaiber will replace his fellow compatriot  . The General Secretary's Deputies for Political Affairs are traditionally German diplomats.
• I was glad to hear that the Hungarian Government had suggested that a binding referendum be held regarding accession to NATO. It is very important that the Hungarian people should have an opportunity to decide in this question -- stated Tom Lantos, a Democratic Representative of the U.S. Congress at his press conference. The congressman of Hungarian origins thinks that serious debates might precede the ratification of Hungary's accession to NATO in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. 'The larger proportion of the Hungarians wishes to join NATO, the easier it will for the United States to decide"-- emphasized the congressman.

September 3rd

• It is not only at the Madrid Summit that Turkey suggested and supported the admission of Hungary into NATO, but it will give all the assistance it can in the future as well to facilitate Hungary's accession to the European Alliance. It was announced at Turkish President Süleyman Demirel's talks in Hungary. The Turkish politician was invited for an official visit by Árpád Göncz. Emphasizing the Turkish support is not by accident because several leading officials of Turkish diplomacy warned previously that if there would be no progress concerning the speeding up of their own accession to the EU, then Brussels, as well as the East-Central European applicants should take a Turkish veto into account on the expansion of NATO. However, as it turned out from the Turkish President's statements, there are no traces of such preconditions and threats with veto any more.
• The report of the European Council concerning expansion is in harmony with the goals of the Hungarian diplomacy because it suggests that there should be a difference made among the applicants at the early stage -- declared State Secretary Ferenc Somogyi at the session of the European Integration Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. The Hungarian negotiation strategy for the accession to the EU is being prepared at the level of the ministries and it will be presented to the cabinet during autumn. Differentiation is one way of recognizing the achievements of the best-prepared countries. If the performance of those remaining outside improves, they will also receive the opportunity with the annual report prepared by the Brussels committee that they will join the accession talks to EU -- added the head of the State Secretariat for Integration Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The European Council has suggested that accession talks early next year be started with six associated countries (Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, any Cyprus).

September 10th

• The talks regarding Hungary's accession to NATO started in Brussels and they are likely to last until the end of October. After the talks Hungary -- as well as the other two candidates, the Czech Republic and Poland -- should confirm in a letter of confirmation that it is ready to accept the conditions and to be a member of NATO. The accession protocols are scheduled to be signed at the NATO ministerial meeting in December. 1998 will be taken up by the ratification of the protocols, while the scheduled date of accession is 1999, the 50th anniversary of the existence of the organization.
• NATO General Secretary Javier Solana declared in Brussels that it would be important for the Alliance to hold the Hungarian referendum on the accession of NATO in time. I hope that Hungary may go hand in hand with the other two invitees, the Czech Republic and Poland in the last stages of the accession talks -- stated Solana, who believes that the Hungarian leadership is able to solve the problems regarding the referendum.

September 12nd

• The expansion of NATO increases the security of those who are now left out besides that of the present and the new members -- mentioned Bill Clinton another reason for expansion. The American President explained in more details than before as a response to twenty Senators' memo why he believes it important to expand the Atlantic Alliance. It is this time that the idea has first cropped up officially that the expansion of NATO may "counterbalance the unlikely turn of events in which Russia may leave the democratic path and sets her eye again on Eastern Europe." According to Clinton, the partnership for peace, the admission of new members, and keeping the Atlantic door open will decrease the security risks that have appeared lately: that may block smuggling nuclear material, the outbreak of ethnic and border hostilities, and the outbreak of a new round of arms race as well.

September 14th

• It is especially important responsibility and interest for Hungary to provide political support to its neighbors which have been left out of the first round of expansion of the NATO and the EU in their integrationist efforts. Besides it, Hungarian foreign policy lays a great emphasis on improving bilateral relations as well -- declared Foreign Minister László Kovács at the conference of the Central European University. At the international forum politicians and researchers discussed what impacts the expansion of the NATO and the European Union would have on the Central European region.

September 15th

• There will be no referendum on the NATO-membership of the Czech Republic. While confirming the news, Prime Minister Václav Klaus stated in an interview to the Die Presse: they did not need a referendum the organization of which is always followed by problems of drafting the questions. He thinks that Hungary's example is a case in point. However, as for membership in the EU, the Czech Premier does not oppose a referendum.
• The referendum on NATO may be a good reinforcement of Hungary's intention to join the organization -- declared the Deputy Secretary of State for European Security Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense Franklin D. Kramer, who came to Budapest as the head of a delegation to attend the session of the workgroup of the two ministries.
• A five-day long joint Hungarian-American logistical maneuver started at Balatonkenese. The troops practiced the logistical support of a Hungarian motorized division and a quick-response battalion to participate in an imaginary peace-keeping mission led by NATO as well as the passing through Hungary of the troops of the countries participating in the mission.

September 16th

• The accession talks between NATO and Poland, which would like to join the Alliance, started in Brussels.

September 19th

• It was the military questions that were on the agenda at the second round of the NATO-Hungarian accession talks organized in Brussels. NATO welcomed that Hungary stressed the importance of the establishment of an efficient cooperation among the different branches of the armed forces in the development of Hungary's armed forces.
• Germany and France wish to remain the driving force behind European integration - emphasized Chancellor Helmut Kohl at Weimar, at the closing press conference of the seventieth German-French summit.

September 24th

• NATO decided to give a special status to its three future members, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic -- announced the French news-agency AFP quoting an official of the North-Atlantic Organization. The special status means that the three countries after January 1998, that is, after the scheduled signing of the accession protocols in December, will be able to participate in the sessions of the NATO. However, the three countries will not enjoy veto rights -- added the official quoted by the AFP.

September 25th

• Foreign Minister László Kovács met with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Union Hans van den Broek in New York. The Secretary General of NATO said that the three countries would be likely to get a special status -- probably a sort of right of consultation -- from this December to the realization of the expected full membership in April 1999; the details would be worked out later. As for the plans to expand the EU, Hans van den Broek declared: the process could not be slowed down by the internal reform of the EU. The European Union plans to implement continuous expansion as opposed to the method of "rounds" of NATO. According to it, the integration of the new member states will be carried out separately and continuously.

September 26th

• A NATO Information Center was opened in the Czech Republic. The Center wishes to present the past, present, and future of the Atlantic Alliance in order to try to convince the whole society from the schools to the barracks that the Czech Republic should join the NATO.

September 29th

• Qualitative changes may be brought about in the relations of NATO and the three Central-East European countries which have been invited to the accession talks, including Hungary, the fact that the North-Atlantic Organization will provide more intensive detailed information until the end of 1997, while after January 1998 it will offer an opportunity for the Hungarian-Czech-Polish trio to attend the sessions -- though without taking part in the decision-making process. The program announced officially by the NATO practically provides a special status to the three countries until they become full members scheduled in April 1999. The Deputy Secretary General of NATO for Political Affairs, Klaus-Peter Klaiber informed the representatives of Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland that the relations between the old and the new members would change in two stages. Until the end of this year -- that is, until the signing of the accession protocols -- the three Central-East European countries would receive more frequent and more detailed information regarding the affairs of the NATO Ambassadors' Council. However, after next January, the Hungarian, the Czech, and the Polish officials would be allowed to participate in the NATO ministerial, ambassadorial, and professional meetings and to express their views. However, the opportunity to attend the meetings does not go hand in hand with the right to participate in the decisions.
• Foreign Minister László Kovács carried on negotiations with senior American officials in Washington regarding accession to NATO and the regional relations. László Kovács stated after meeting with Senator Richard Lugar that the Senator thought there would the necessary two-thirds majority in the Senate for the American ratification of the accession of the three candidate countries despite all reservations. The reservations are still about the distribution of costs, the impact on Russia,and the necessity of full security guarantees to be given to the three candidate countries. He stressed that Hungary's NATO-membership enjoyed a bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress.
• German Chancellor Helmut Kohl suggested that if there were a secret ballot concerning the expansion of the EU at the summit meeting of the organization in Luxemburg in December attended by the heads of states and prime ministers of the member countries of the EU, there would not be a majority for it because the partners of Germany were rather reluctant to share the EU subsidies with the Poles, the Czechs, the Hungarians, the Slovenes, and the Estonians. According to a report published in Der Spiegel, the Chancellor expressed these thoughts in the German cabinet, but he also insisted that there should be a decision made at the December meeting concerning the beginning of the accession talks and a decision should be made to the efffect that these talks should be finished within four years at the latest. Kohl declared that Germany would be the major beneficiary of the eastern expansion -- if not for other reasons because of the geographical proximity to the new markets.