Euro-Atlantic Security in the Aftermath of the Prague Summit

International Seminar of Advanced Studies
Rome, Chamber of Deputies, December 3, 2002

Amb. Mel Sembler

Ambassador of the United States to Italy

I want to begin by thanking our host, the Atlantic Treaty Association, for inviting me to participate in this important event. The ATA is a vital organization that has made an extremely valuable and lasting contribution to our Atlantic alliance. It is truly an honor to be among such distinguished company.

There is no greater example of the strong and enduring ties between Europe and North America than the NATO alliance. It remains the premier transatlantic security institution. And it has been instrumental in helping the eastern half of Europe work toward becoming as free and safe as the western half.

NATO’s decision to take in seven new members was an historic step toward achieving a Europe that is whole, free, united, and at peace. This evolution is proof yet again of the transformational power of NATO.

Our great Euro-Atlantic alliance is a force for expanding liberty, democracy, and security.
As President Bush observed last year in Warsaw, "Yalta did not ratify a natural divide, it divided a living civilization." he made it clear that his goal is to erase the false lines that have divided Europe and to welcome into the Euro-Atlantic home every European nation working toward democracy, free markets, and a strong civic culture.

NATO membership will make the seven states invited at Prague more secure. That is a hard and fast truth.
But their addition will also add to the strength of the alliance. Lingering arguments that enlargement would somehow weaken NATO have been blown apart by everything that the former aspirant states, and those still seeking membership, have done to keep the peace in the Balkans and to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

The Prague summit declaration, I think we can all agree, is an extremely important document. One line, in particular, jumped out at me: “today’s invitees will not be the last.”
That is prose that will inspire hope in those countries seeking membership and help keep them on course.

Indeed, for the seven countries invited to join the alliance, the prospect of NATO membership has served as a strong incentive to enact far-reaching democratic, economic, and military reforms. These countries still have work to do to complete the reform revolutions that began a decade ago – to end corruption, illicit arms trade, and trafficking of women and children. But the progress they have made is sure evidence that they are on the right path.

We have only to look across the Adriatic to Albania to see this process at work. Popular support for NATO membership in Albania is more that 90 percent. This, in addition to all the fine work that Italy has done to bring stability there, has helped fuel political momentum for needed change.

And we see the same phenomenon at work in Macedonia and now Croatia, whose adherence to NATO’s membership action plan is a strong symbol of how far we have come together to stabilize the Balkans.

While Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are not yet part of the NATO family, our hope is that the pull of the alliance will help draw them ever closer to the European mainstream.
NATO, however, is not just about membership. It is also about relationships, particularly with the countries that have emerged from the former Soviet Union. The United States wants NATO to build a stronger and more durable relationship with Russia and Ukraine, and extend the hand of partnership to the increasingly important countries of central Asia and the Caucasus.

Indeed, the United States wants to integrate the countries to the east of NATO into the community of shared western values, and into the western institutions that define and defend those values.

We have our work cut out for us to insure that all these states grow to respect democratic norms and human rights. But by drawing these nations into closer, more cooperative relationships, NATO is helping ease their transformation into modern, increasingly free societies. This unfolding process is enhancing security and stability throughout Eurasia.

Ambassador Adamishin will, I am quite sure, give us a fine presentation on NATO-Russia relations. Nevertheless, I want to stress my country’s point of view that the NATO-Russia Council, born here in Italy at Pratica di mare, is off to a good start. We have done more than just settle old business. We are now entering new territory, shoulder-to-shoulder.

NATO and Russia are examining how we can work together on theatre missile defense, joint search and rescue, and training programs.

We are also thinking through more effective measures toward the threats of ballistic missile proliferation and weapons of mass destruction.
As President Bush told President Putin in St. Petersburg, a Russia that is fully part of Europe needs no buffer zone separating it from Europe. The United States believes that NATO must build common security with our Russian friends, and thereby overcome forever the dividing lines of the past.

NATO had hoped at Prague to announce a dramatic step forward in our relations with Ukraine.
But indications that president Kuchma approved the sale of a Kolchuga radar system to Iraq have stopped our dialogue with him dead in its tracks. We will continue to insist that Ukraine cooperate and respond to this problem.
Nevertheless, the United States believes that NATO should maintain its links with reformers in Ukraine. This is why we pushed for agreement on a new action plan at Prague that identifies further political, economic, and military reforms which allies are willing to help implement.

But we cannot conduct business as usual with leaders who flagrantly violate United Nations sanctions on Iraq.
As NATO devoted itself to stabilizing central Europe and the Balkans in the 1990s, over the next decade we must now look east to extend our hand in partnership to the states of central Asia and the caucuses. Our very security depends on our doing this successfully. Turkey, a trusted NATO ally, will have an important role to play there as a Muslim country that increasingly has taken on global responsibilities.

In responding to the threat of terrorism and to instability in the arc of countries ranging from North Africa to the Middle East to South Asia, we need the active support of all the newly independent states.
Following the terrible events of September 11, all of the countries in the region made important contributions to operation enduring freedom and gained well-deserved attention as frontline states in the war against global terror.
Nobody can claim that these partners are a drain on NATO’s resources.
They are, in fact, already active contributors to the common defense. Equally important was the assistance provided by several of these states last winter that allowed the international community to create an aid corridor in northern Afghanistan, helping to save lives.

These military and humanitarian successes stem directly from the partnership for peace experience that these countries have shared with NATO.
We should continue to use the special relationship created through the partnership for peace to draw states to the east of NATO into closer and more cooperative relations with the west.

This is now one of NATO’s key responsibilities: to bring together allies and partners in a single yet flexible institution that can be the bedrock of a new democratic peace in Europe.
I would, however, like to add a dose of realism.
At the end of the day, NATO is still a military organization responsible for the defense of its members. It will matter little how many members it has, or how many partnerships it enjoys, if it is unable to take effective military action against the threats that face the alliance.

NATO is under no illusion as to what those threats are. Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are not the only threats we face, but they are unquestionably the most dangerous ones.
The bold statement agreed to by leaders in Prague that NATO will strengthen its ability to meet future security challenges from “wherever they come” puts to rest the debate on the scope of NATO’s responsibilities.

The war in Afghanistan was not run out of Brussels, but virtually every NATO member has contributed to the coalition effort. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Italy again for its contribution of crack Alpini troops who will deploy next year.
NATO still provides the best vehicle for training together so if we need to fight side-by-side we can do so effectively. Soon NATO will be present on the ground, helping the international security force to keep the peace in Afghanistan.

We are encouraged by the results achieved at Prague. Now, we need to go forward and create a highly mobile, flexible, and sustainable NATO response force to better protect us.
We need to keep reaching out to the east and to the south, through the Mediterranean dialogue which Italy and others have played such an important role in, to spread stability and security. And we need to improve our ability to operate together and equip our fighting men with the best technology available.

We recognize that not all allies can do everything, but all allies can do something. I would ask those present here today to keep in mind that the Prague mantra--new members, new relationships, and new capabilities--fits together like the three legs of a stool.
Remove one, and what was solid and durable becomes unsteady and fragile.

Let me make one last thing perfectly clear. Some have asked in the aftermath of September 11 whether NATO should remain a priority. Our answer, the united answer of the bush administration and the United States congress, is unambiguously “yes.” The president said it himself at Prague: “the Atlantic alliance is America's most important global relationship. The events of September 11 reinforced the importance of even closer cooperation between the United States and a strong confident Europe. As long as we continue to act together we will overcome the twin scourges of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. In doing so, we will advance the cause of freedom and security throughout the Euro-Atlantic community.