Slovenia and NATO

AMBASSADOR YOUNG: Good morning. I don't think I need an introduction, and I frankly don't think our guest needs an introduction either. But it is my honor to introduce Ambassador Nicholas Burns. He's the U.S. ambassador to NATO. This is his second trip to Slovenia this year. He has headed up a U.S. interagency delegation visiting Slovenia to talk with the leadership here regarding Slovenia's candidacy for NATO. So, I'd like to introduce Ambassador Burns, and he'll tell you little bit about what he's done. Thank you.

AMBASSADOR BURNS: Thank you, Ambassador. I'll just make a few brief comments and be glad to take a few questions after that. We have just completed an excellent morning of meetings here in Ljubljana. We met first with the prime minister. And he was accompanied by a number of officials including the foreign minister, the defense minister, the finance minister, and several other officials from his government. And we had an excellent conversation about Slovenia's application for NATO membership.

I told the prime minister that, in our opinion, Slovenia remains a serious candidate for admission at Prague. Slovenia has worked very closely with all of us at NATO, but particularly with the United States in defining all of the issues that needed to be overcome. To complete its application for NATO, Slovenia has made excellent progress, across the board on all of the issues that were of concern to us originally. I also explained to the prime minister that the United States government has not yet made the decision as to which of the nine countries applying for membership we'll support. President Bush will do that shortly, certainly before the Prague Summit, and then when he will go to the Prague Summit and meet with his colleagues -- the other heads of government -- and together they will make the decision on November 21st in Prague itself.

We also had a very good meeting with the president, and we are honored to meet him again. We had a full discussion that lasted well over an hour. He gave a very thoughtful presentation as to why Slovenia seeks membership in NATO and the European Union, he talked about Slovenian history, and he talked about the geography of the country, the experience that the Slovenians have had both bitter and more positive over the last one hundred years or so. And we were really honored to meet him again. I think, in totality, our contacts with Slovenian leadership have been very positive. The task of my delegation -- we are visiting all nine countries this week -- we've been in Bulgaria, and Romania, and Albania, and Macedonia; we're leaving now for Bratislava, and then we'll go on for Baltic countries -- we're doing a last review of all the issues pertaining to membership, and we'll report to our government in Washington early next week our findings, and then, of course, our president will have a basis upon which to make a decision. So that's why we are here. It's a pleasure to be here, and I'll be happy to take a few questions.

QUESTION: Mr. Ambassador, my name is Tomaz Gerden from National Radio Slovenia. You were here in February, I think. What has changed in this period of time between your first and now second visit in preparation of Slovenia...?

AMB. BURNS: Yes. Thank you very much. Well, I think that we -- I also had a chance to see the prime minister in July when he was in Riga for the V-10 [Vilnius Ten] Summit, we had a bilateral meeting there, so we had a number of opportunities to talk. I think what's changed, first and foremost, is that we know a lot more about the defense modernization plans of the Slovenian military. We've had a lot of contact with Minister Grizold [Slovenian Defense Minister Anton Grizold] and are impressed by him. Slovenia has a very, very comprehensive plan for reform of the armed forces, for a transition from territorial defense to a deployable military, a military that can work in peacekeeping operations, or in combat operations in the future with NATO far from Slovenia's territory, which, of course, is necessary for any NATO member to be able to do. I think that we've gone a long way in the last six months in defining, with the Slovene government, all of those issues pertaining to military reform. The president and the prime minister also discussed with us the fact that -- obviously this is a question of historical importance for Slovenia -- to join an alliance that can guarantee its security. And they described the public discussions about this and the government's commitment to bringing this to the public, and I think that's also been a step forward, if I may say that. The Slovene government has also defined for us, in a very specific way, the defense commitments they could make to NATO, in terms of defense spending between now and 2008, and we've been gratified to see that kind of commitment.

Q: (Almost inaudible). Mr. Ambassador, I have four more general questions: First one is, How do you see today's NATO, how is today's NATO prepared for new challenges? Second, how can NATO be prepared for new threats? The third one, how do you see the future of NATO? And the fourth, how important is NATO for the U.S.? We hear from time to time that NATO is not so important for the U.S., like in connection with Afghanistan. And the last question, Will NATO continue its enlargement, why is enlargement so important?

AMB. BURNS: Good. I think I can take your five questions and maybe make them two. Let me start with the last question.

Enlargement is critical for the future of NATO and for my country, because we have a completely different global situation. Back during the Cold War, we were reluctant to add new members because it was one more country to defend against the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact. Now, we have a global situation where we want to add members, because we are stronger as those new members come in. Why? Because the great majority of threats that you face, as Slovenes, that we face as Americans, aren't coming from Europe any more. They are coming from regions beyond Europe. And so we have to have a capacity to go out and meet those threats. Thereby, strengthening -- adding countries to the alliance -- allows us greater capacity to do that. We are also mindful of history, and of the history of 1989 to 1991, and the fact that you liberated yourselves, you fought your own war to gain your independence, as did many countries in Central Europe. We would be wrong to leave an historical void where those countries did not belong to the major institutions that are supporting Europe and North America: NATO and European Union. And so it is very important, we think, for Central Europe to be part of those two great institutions that will define, in many respects, the future of Europe and of North America. So that's an argument for why enlargement is important.

Is the United States dedicated to NATO? Absolutely. We cannot foresee a future where our security interests are protected in Europe, or in our own country, without NATO.

NATO is the only bridge that connects us to Europe, and it is the essential organization that helps us protect ourselves from threats wherever they come from. And so, I think you are seeing in the amount of time we're putting into NATO enlargement, the amount of effort that our president, our secretary of Defense -- Secretary Rumsfeld -- Secretary [of State] Powell have put into reforming NATO, that we believe in it wholeheartedly. And there is not a doubt about that.

What is the new threat? What is the future for NATO? NATO was an organization designed to protect Western Europe from Soviet invasion. And we succeeded. There was no invasion. We deterred such an invasion between 1949 and 1991. And as I said before, our sense is that -- especially since September 11, 2001 -- the geostrategic situation has changed, that we do face a threat from terrorist groups, from states that support terrorist groups, and their ability to have chemical weapons, or biological weapons, or nuclear weapons -- weapons of mass destruction -- and to inflict extraordinary damage upon any of our societies, and we must meet that threat, and therefore we must have a capacity to project military force far from Europe and North America. And we must have very strong military capabilities themselves. And that's what the new NATO is trying to achieve.

So at the Prague Summit, along with enlargement, there will be a very great concentration on these military questions: a reform of the structure of NATO -- the military structure of NATO -- a new response force that will allow us to respond very quickly to terrorist attacks, and greater military capabilities. And finally, let me say -- and I hope I am answering all your questions in this very long answer, and I apologize for that -- I -- we expect that we think we are on the verge of a historic enlargement in Prague. NATO is an open organization. We've always added new members. This is the time when we need to add new members to consolidate democracy in Central Europe and to be strong. And so we look forward to a good summit in Prague.

Q: You are obviously studying Slovenia very precisely. Did the representatives of the Slovene government also made it clear to you that the public opinion in Slovenia is ... against NATO by a slight margin and ... what will happen in Prague if Slovenia gets invitation and refuses to join because the Slovenians on a referendum refuse to join?

AMB. BURNS: Well, let me just say ... and maybe Ambassador Young can answer this better than I can. But from the NATO perspective it is very important for the publics of all of our countries to support NATO. I speak from an American perspective. We have very strong support in my country for NATO. Because NATO is an organization that demands, that gives security and gives many benefits, but it also asks obligations. Article V asks that we protect each other. And so it's a very serious commitment that we make as we look at Slovenia, or any of the other countries to take them in, because it means that we're extending the security guarantee and protection. And so, public opinion is important, but I think -- Ambassador Young, as ambassador here -- should answer your specific question, if you will allow him to.

Q: What if Slovenia gets an invitation and refuses...

AMB. BURNS: We can't imagine that that would be the case.

AMB. YOUNG: I would only add that, in terms of public opinion, there isn't a majority -- the majority of Slovenes are not against entering NATO. There is a significant portion of the population that is anti-NATO. There is also a significant portion that is undecided, and there is a majority or slight majority that is in favor. So when I think you take all those calculations into consideration, at this stage, it's more pro than against. As far as what will happen afterwards, I think that we will have to wait and see what transpires. I agree with Ambassador Burns that I think it is very doubtful that, if given an invitation, Slovenia would allow that opportunity to pass.

Q: My question is simple. How many more children will have to die during this new war against this country and how are they connected to terrorism?

AMB. BURNS: You know that at the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqi government committed in UN Security Council resolutions -- United Nations resolution -- to give up its biological and chemical weapons and its capacity to produce, or its attempt to produce nuclear weapons. You also know that Iraq has not fulfilled, ten years later -- eleven years later -- those UN Security Council agreements. They are very important agreements. Because if you look at the damage that can be done to innocent children, as well as to anyone else, by the use of chemical weapons -- and Iraq of course has used chemical weapons against the Kurdish population in the North as well as against Iran -- we have to all of us be concerned with a country that is brazenly ignoring the United Nations and the will of the international community and international law, and refusing to give up these weapons. Now the United States -- to answer your question -- the United States government, under President Bush's leadership, is embarked on a diplomatic course, a peaceful course to resolve this problem. We are now discussing in the UN Security Council a resolution that would ask for inspectors to return and to have very tough and very clear United Nations international inspections.

Q: This is not true. I am sorry to interrupt you...(inaudible)

AMB. BURNS: Ok, now that I've heard your question, I will continue my answer. So, our president, with the backing of all our friends in Europe and in the Middle East, is pursuing a resolution of this issue through the United Nations, through diplomatic means, and he has quite clearly said that he has not made a decision about the use of force in Iraq. So, that's how I'd answered your question.

AMB. YOUNG: One more question.

Q: (Inaudible - a question concerning NATO in the Balkans)

AMB. BURNS: Yes. We just came from Albania and Macedonia yesterday. We met with the government leadership of both countries and presidents of both countries.

NATO, of course, has had a very big role in both countries. We have a NATO force now in Macedonia, Task Force Fox, which has been very helpful in trying to avoid -- which was helpful, I should say in 2001 -- in avoiding civil war there. And now Macedonia has had successful elections, they have a new government, and there is greater stability in the country. In Albania, of course, NATO had a big presence in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict as we sought to protect the ethnic Albanians from ethnic cleansing by the Serb population. And I think in both countries there is tremendous support for NATO. The president of Albania told us that in a recent poll 98% of the public supported NATO enlargement, Albania joining NATO. And Macedonia, not quite there, but similar. Both of these countries are candidates for NATO membership, both of them are pursuing that membership through the Membership Action Plan. They are seriously engaged in it. But as we've made no decisions on any of the countries, I wouldn't want to speculate further, except to say that we feel a special responsibility in NATO to remain involved in the Balkans. We have our peacekeeping force in Bosnia, our peacekeeping force in Kosovo and in Macedonia. And I think you will see NATO maintain its commitments, as we have pledged to do in the Balkans.

AMB. YOUNG: Thank you very much.

AMB. BURNS: Thank you.