NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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NATOs Parlamentariske Forsamling (2. samling) NPA alm. del - Bilag 57 Offentligt POLITICAL 126 PC 05 E Original: English NATO Parliamentary Assembly SUMMARY of the meeting of the Political Committee Grand Union Hall, Grand Hotel Union Ljubljana, Slovenia Sunday 29 May 2005 International Secretariat Ma y 2005 126 PC 05 E i ATTENDANCE LIST Chairman Markus Meckel (Germany) General Rapporteur Bert Koenders (Netherlands) Rapporteur of the Sub -Committee on Transatlantic Relations Ruprecht Polenz (Germany) Rapporteur of the Sub -Committee on NATO Partnerships Marco Minniti (Italy) President of the NATO PA Pierre Lellouche (France) Secretary General Simon Lunn Member Delegations Belgium Daniel Bacquelaine Théo Kelchtermans Philippe Mahoux Canada Raynell Andreychuk Leon Benoit Czech Republic Pavel Severa Kare l Schwarzenberg Denmark Per Kaalund Estonia Tiit Matsulevits Sven Mikser France Loïc Bouvard Germany Uwe Karl Beckmeyer Volker Bouffier Monika Heubaum Robert Hochbaum Klaus -Jürgen Jeziorsky Karl A. Lamers Kurt J. Rossmanith Bernd Siebert Andreas W eigel Greece Nikolaos Legkas Vassilios Maghinas Ioannis Papantoniou Antonis Skillakos Hungary Mihály Balla Iceland Kjartan Ólafsson Italy Franco Angioni Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri Latvia Guntis Berzins Aleksandrs Kirsteins Dzintars Rasnacs Lithuani a Juozas Olekas 126 PC 05 E ii Luxembourg Colette Flesch Jean -Pierre Koepp Lydia Mutsch Netherlands Willem Hoekzema Bart van Winsen Norway Jan Tore Sanner Poland Marian Pilka Jerzy Wenderlich Portugal Henrique de Freitas Rui Gomes Da Silva José Lello Romania Nor ica Nicolai Ioan Talpes Slovakia Jozef Banás Slovenia Branko Grims Spain Jesus Cuadrado Maria Rosario Juaneda Josep Maldonado Jordi Marsal Roberto Soravilla Turkey Inal Batu United Kingdom Donald Anderson Michael Gapes Bruce George Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale Peter Viggers United States Dennis Moore Joel Hefley Mike Ross John Shimkus Associate delegations Armenia Mher Shahgeldyan Aleksan Karapetyan Artur Petrosyan Austria Alfred Schöls Azerbaijan Tapdig Kamalov Croatia Kresimir Cosic Ve limir Plesa Finland Kauko Juhanalo Suvi -Anne Siimes Georgia George Arveladze David Gamkrelidze Moldova Vitalia Pavlicenco Russian Federation Yuliy Kvitsinskiy Victor A. Ozerov Victor Zavarzin Sweden Urban Ahlin Allan Widman Switzerland Edi Engelber ger Hans Hess 126 PC 0 5 E iii the FYR of Macedonia * Teuta Arifi Esad Rahic Ukraine Anatoly Domanskyi Stepan Khmara Oleksander Kuzmuk Georgii Manchulenko Volodymyr Zaplatynskyi Oleg Zarubinskyi Mediterranean Associate Delegations Algeria Ahmed Issaad Abdelhamid Latreche Mauritania Cherif Ahmed Ould Mohamed Moussa European Parliament Elmar Brok Paolo Casaca Ana Maria R.M Gomes Milos Koterec Armin Laschet Parliamentary Observers Serbia and Montenegro Asim Dizdarevic Zvonko Obradovic Milorad Todoro vic Interparliamentary Assembly Assembly of the Western European Union Elsa Papadimitriou Michael Hancock John Wilkinson Parliamentary Guests Jordan Hussein Al -Qaisi Jehad Momani Observers NATO Alicia Ambos General J. Bornemann * Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name 126 PC 05 E iv Speakers Bo zo Cerar, Slovenian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Robert de Wijk, Professor and Director of the Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies, Netherlands Colonel Ralph Thiele, Commander of the Bundeswehr Centre for Transformation, Germany Committee S ecretary Steven Mark International Secretariat Steffen Sachs, Committee Director Claire Watkins, Committee Co -ordinator Alex Dowling, Research Assistant Silje Andersen, Research Assistant Srdjan Cvijic, Research Assistant 126 PC 05 E 1 1. At the 2005 Sprin g Session in Ljubljana, discussions in the Political Committee centred on NATO’s future and the topics addressed in the reports submitted by the Rapporteurs. 2. Following the opening by Chairman Markus Meckel (DE) and the adoption of the draft agenda and t he minutes of the 2004 Venice Annual Session Abdelhamid Latreche (DZ) briefly spoke about Algeria’s new associate membership in the Mediterranean. 3. The Chairman then introduced a general debate on current NATO issues and the future work of the Committee. In contrast to NATO, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) had always discussed the full range of security issues relevant for the Alliance, he pointed out. Commenting on its future role, NATO could either become a comprehensive and strong Alliance or something like a ‘toolbox’, where the ‘mission defined the coalition’, he argued. He called for a ‘clarification’ of the NATO -EU relationship, and added that Turkey should assist in resolving the Cyprus -Malta issue. Mr Meckel’s introduction generated a lively discussion: Bert Koenders (NL) announced that the autumn report will take on the political questions about NATO’s future development. He argued that a greater link between political and military matters was needed in NATO, as the lack of clarity o ver Kosovo’s future illustrates. Paolo Casaca (EP) reminded participants that NATO has become a global actor and that it has become more political while Karl A. Lamers (DE) underlined the importance of the transatlantic security dialogue for the Assembly. Pointing to NATO’s many activities Joel Hefley (US) stressed that it was not losing relevance and said that the dream of the EU replacing NATO was a mistake. Elmar Brok (EP) dismissed the notion of a “competitive relationship between NATO and the EU” an d stressed that NATO would retain primacy in security matters. Michael Gapes (UK) agreed that it was a partnership and that the US should recognise EU efforts, a point reinforced by Vassilios Maghinas (GR). José Lello (PT) stressed that NATO remains vita l to the transatlantic relationship. John Shimkus (US) said that the presence of so many new members and observers in the Committee was itself a sign of NATO’s continued relevance. He continued that EU ‘soft power’ did not stop the killing in Kosovo but NATO did and it was collective defence that made the Alliance strong and a magnet to new membership. The fact that Russia is interested in enhancing co-operation with NATO and that NATO's political role should be enhanced was emphasised by Victor Ozerov ( RU). Loïc Bouvard (FR) said the issue was how the US and EU could co-operate within NATO and that no one supported an end to NATO. France simply wanted to strengthen the EU pillar within the Alliance, which is currently ‘over -reliant’ on the US. 4. Speakin g on NATO and South -East European Security , Bozo Cerar , Slovenian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State, underlined the importance of enlargement as well as co-operation and confidence for NATO’s role in the stabilisation and security of Europe. This was pa rticularly true in the Western Balkans where all the countries shared a desire to achieve Euro -Atlantic integration. Slovenia believes that Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina should be admitted to the Atlantic Charter even before joining the Partnership for Peace (PfP), he said. NATO, the EU and the OSCE must try to co-operate more closely and effectively. In this context he depicted the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) pillar structure as a good example of inter -organisational co-operation. Border management, he went on, was another issue that required close institutional co-operation. The Ohrid process model could be exported and extended. Mr Cerar commented that the ethnic conflicts in South -Eastern Europe had demonstrated the importance of a strong military defence alliance. They also reinforced the notion that new forms of political and military co-operation are critical to the provision of security in Europe. Slovenia is ready, he continued, to offer its experience in helpi ng others in the accession process, assuming there was a readiness to reform. Slovenia has a strong interest in seeing the region fully integrated into the Euro -Atlantic family. In light of the declining international financial support to the region, Slo venia also believes that optimal contributions by international organisations present in the region are another priority. 126 PC 05 E 2 5. Responding to a question posed by Georgii Manchulenko (UA) on Ukraine’s NATO and EU aspirations, Mr Cerar said that Slovenia firmly supports Ukraine's dialogue with NATO. He added that Ukraine should be included in the Membership Action Plan as soon as possible, as this is the best mechanism for membership preparation. 6. Introducing the Committee’s General Report on NATO’s Evolving Ro le in Post-Conflict Operations, Mr. Koenders also briefly touched on the European Constitution. In his view, failures of the referenda in France and the Netherlands will have negative effects but it will not mean the end of the European construction itsel f. Military and political transformation must go hand in hand, the General Rapporteur noted, adding that NATO would suffer if its responsibilities were over - extended. However, referring to Darfur, he supported NATO involvement in the Sudanese province, b ecause the African Union lacked capable peacekeeping forces. 7. In the questions and answers session that followed, Ana Maria R.M Gomes (EP) criticised NATO’s lack of readiness to get involved in humanitarian crises such as Darfur and applauded the Internati onal Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) and its 'special role' in post-conflict operations. The European Parliament member suggested including a reference to the ICRC in the report. John Wilkinson (WEU) strongly criticised what he branded as “candidly la mentable” European neglect of the transatlantic