No.1(06/02/98) One month of Euro-Atlantic integration
                          (December 1997)

2 December

• At the meeting of the ministers of defence of NATO no decision has been made if the three candidates for membership, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, are to belong the Northern or the Southern wing of the Alliance. Hungary will most probably belong to the Southern General Headquarters based in Naples, all utterances that have been made by NATO refer to that.
• Hungary prefers to belong to the Southern wing of NATO, said György Keleti, Minister of Defense at the meeting of the ministers of defense of the Alliance held in Brussels.
  The ministers have approved of the study that USD one and half billion is to be allocated for extending the NATO in the coming ten years.
• General Dieter Stöckman, the commander of the allied forces of NATO in Central and Eastern Europe says that it is the communication/information systems the Hungarian Army has to develop in the first place in compliance with the requirements related to NATO membership.
• László Kovács, Minister of Foreign Affairs has been invited by Javier Solana, Secretary General of NATO to the 16 December 1997 meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of NATO in Brussels where the Minutes of Accessation of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland will be signed.

3 December

• László Kovács, Foreign Minister has signed the World Treaty on Prohibiting Infantry Tread Mines in Canada.
• Sergeyev Russian Minister of Defense who has chaired the meeting of the NATO/Russia Permanent Council has been forced to specify President Yeltsin's announcement made in Stockholm that Russia has planned to decrease the number of nuclear warheads with one third only under the START-3 Agreement, but the Duma has not ratified START-2 either. The Minister of Defense has promised at the same time that by the beginning of 1999 the number of Russian armed forces will be decreased by forty percent. Moscow continue to oppose the extension of the Alliance but it is somewhat comforted by the fact that in the NATO-Russian Council it can participate in the discussion of security issues as an equivalent partner.
• With regard to Bosnia at the meeting of both the NATO-Russia Council and the Euro Atlantic Partnership Council Russia has indicated that it is willing to take part in the successor of SFOR as well. György Keleti has deemed in his statement that SFOR even after its mandate will have been over in June cannot be removed from Bosnia without risk.
• György Keleti, together with his Czech and Polish colleagues has met Cohen, US Defense Secretary and have had discussions with Wesley Clark, the Commander-in-Chief of  the European Allied Forces. The Defense Secretary has said that the announcement that Hungary prefers to belong to the Southern wing of NATO has been favourably received.
• Washington has statedthat Russia attempts to achieve a collective peace keeping security. President Clinton has been aware "in general" of Yeltsin's nuclear weapon decrease plans but the White House has continued to consider the commencement of negotiations on ratification of START-2 and START-3 in Moscow.

4 December

• Strobe Talbott, American and Georgij Mamedov, Russian deputy foreign ministers have agreed in Washington in preparing plans for decrease that exceed even START-2 and START-3 agreements. America, however, has insisted on that Moscow first ratify START-2 and then continue negotiations on the third START agreement.

5 December

• The delegation of Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly has had negotiations in Moscow. At the meeting it has been, among other things, said that entering the NATO will not cause any trouble to the relations between the two countries, the Russians have emphasized though that they have theoretical restraints, but they have not sent Hungary their disapproving notice beacuse of the accession. The Russian party has taken it favourably that due to the membership to NATO we have not stopped, with a political decision, purchasing Russian weapons, thus Russian companies may take part in tenders with equal chances.
• The spokesman of the Washington State Department has officially confirmed that USA will not enter an agreement with Moscow that would impair the sovereignty of Eastern European countries. Washington has implied that it stand by the Baltic states after they have rejected the security guarantees suggested by the Russians against which they would have to waive claiming accession to NATO. The American strategy gives the accession of Ukraine priority.
• György Keleti, Minister of Defense has had negotiations in Vienna with Werner Fasslabend, Austrian Defense Minister with regard to the experience of the Referendum on NATO in Hungary, also the two politicians have exchanged their views on developing the air force.
• One of the large regional meetings is scheduled for next spring in Budapest with regard to the implementation of the World Treaty on Prohibiting of Tread Mines. Among other things this is what has been said during László Kovács, Foreign Minister's discussions in Canada.

11 December

• Peter Tufo, American Ambassador expects fierce debates on ratification in Washington. Vivid discussions can be expected in the American Congress as both parties, those who are in favour and those who are against accession of new NATO members, have weighty arguments. The Ambassador hopes that voting for the membership of the three current candidates from Eastern Europe will not be endangered by the recent government crisis in the Czech Republic either. The Ambassador is to visit Taszár and Pécs and the two SFOR bases.
• Hungary will be able to use the special status offered by NATO at the end September earlier than planned because we are able to attend the 18 December Meeting of the Alliance's Ambassadors Council, said András Simonyi, Hungarian NATO Ambassador. Originally the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would have provided this right for the three Central and Eastern European states as of 1 January.

16 December

• ·Another historic event in the process of Hungary's Euro-Atlantic accession: in Brussels the foreign ministers of NATO have signed the Hungarian. Czech, Polish Accession Minutes. At the same time the 16 foreign ministers have warned that ratification in the national assemblies of their countries should not be taken granted. Turkey has promised that it will not veto NATO extension.
• László Kovács has said that Hungary accepts the obligations related to the membership and is ready to contribute to the security of the Allied States. The membership to NATO would not make Hungary able to win wars but to avoid wars, said the foreign minister. He has explained that the owing to the special status from now on we can join the work of all the essential forums of the Alliance as observers and that will largely help preparation. He has emphasized that the Hungarian Republic has supported the attempts for integration of the countries in the neighborhood.
• Javier Solana, NATO Secretary-General has said that through the signature the three invited countries will receive special status in the Alliance: their NATO Ambassadors may attend the meetings of the North Atlantic Council, their Representatives may participate in the work of several committees. The Secretary-General has referred to the recent calculations that in ten years USD one and a half billion have to be spent with regard to the expenses related to the accession of the three countries. Solana has said that it is a reasonable price for a more secure, more peaceful Europe.
• NATO has prepared Accession Minutes with all three candidate countries which have similar contents. The documents will be ratified by the National Assemblies and governments of the Allied States before April 1999.

17 December

• At the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels Yevgeniy Primakoff has expressed that Russia continue to reject the extension of NATO.
• György Keleti, Minister of Defense upon the invitation of William Cohen, American Defense Secretary will travel to the USA next week to lobby for the success of the key voting in the Senate on NATO extension.

18 December

• Yeltsin, Russian Head of State has established with a decree a 17 member committee to handle the issues related to the relations maintained with NATO. Primakoff, Foreign Minister has become the Chairman of the Committee.
• SFOR have arrested another two war criminals.
• Bill Clinton, the President of United States of America has said during his visit to Bosnia that the American SFOR soldiers will remain in Bosnia subsequent to the end of the mandate next summer.
• No expenses shall be included in the costs of the extension of NATO that would have incurred irrespective of the extension, said Javier Solana, NATO secretary-general.
• The Turkish government will support the extension of NATO in the direction of the East, but the position of Turkey is that there is ample time for ratification.

19 December

• In Copenhagen the Foreign Ministers consultation under OSCE has accepted the Guidelines of the European Security Charter. The approval will be probably performed at the next summit meeting. As a result of the agreements, among other things, the path will open to the further extension of NATO.

21 December

• In Bonn German, British, Italian and Spanish defense ministers have signed the intergovernmental agreement on common manufacturing and sale of the new modern war aircraft, Eurofighter.

22 December

• In February next year the ministers of Hungary, Austria and Romania will meet in Budapest, this is what György Keleti and Victor Babuic Romanian Defense Ministers have agreed in. It will be at that time they sign the Deed of Foundation of the Hungarian-Romanian Joint Peace Keeping Corps.

30 December

• Primakoff, Russian Foreign Minister has determinedly rejected the possible accession of the Baltic states to NATO. It does not imply that in the event the Baltic states have been accepted Moscow will "send tanks" but it would force Russia to review its entire relation to NATO.
• Andrei Plesu, the new Romanian Foreign Minister has spoken up for Euro-Atlantic integration and cooperation with minorities at the hearing in the Parliamentary Committee.

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The Integration Activity of the Parliament in the field of Security Politics
(December Summary)

16 December
Imre Mécs, the Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly, together with László Kovács, Foreign Minister, have participated in the signing of the Minutes of Accession to NATO of the Hungarian Republic in Brussels.

11 December
Upon the invitation of the Speaker of the Czech Republic's National Assembly András Bársony, Member of Parliament has paid a visit to Prague where at a NATO Seminar he has informed the Czech Parliamentary Representatives about the information campaign of the Hungarian Government prior to the Referendum.