Paris, 6 March 2003: In reply to a question about the need for a further Security Council resolution on Iraq, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said yesterday during the WEU Assembly’s annual meeting with the North Atlantic Council that he would recommend carefully reading Resolution 1441, which contained a list of clear demands to Saddam Hussein concerning the WMD in his possession.

He recalled that Resolution 1441 had been adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council. The need for a further resolution had not been discussed at NATO, he said. NATO officials explained that NATO’s only dealings with the Iraq issue were those that concerned the defence of Turkey.

NATO officials gave a series of briefings to some 80 members of the Assembly. Among the issues raised during the discussions were the repercussions of the recent political divisions in NATO and the EU for the future role of both Organisations in transatlantic and European security.

Assembly President Jan Dirk Blaauw said that the tensions were palpable and that this had already had an effect on NATO-EU cooperation particularly with respect to plans by some EU member states to have the EU taking over SFOR in 2004. “But”, he added, “I could clearly sense the willingness among the Council members not to escalate any further”.

NATO Press and Information Director Jamie Shea said that “the transatlantic wounds are deep” and that it would take a great deal of work to heal them. He feared that there was a loss of confidence in NATO, particularly in the US Congress. NATO needed to demonstrate that it was “flexible, useful and usable”. International terrorism would once again confront NATO with a real threat to the security of its members and would confirm its military role. He foresaw a three-tier NATO for the future: (a) Coalitions of the willing supported, or at least not blocked by, individual member states, (b) the traditional NATO of Articles 4 and 5 and (c) the “NATO Hinterland”, with non-member countries supporting peacekeeping missions. Commenting on a US proposal, he said he could see a role for NATO in connection with a “peace deployment” in Iraq.

Elaborating on the situation confronting NATO, Assistant Secretary General Günther Altenburg said that “North Americans and Europeans should determine what they want to do together and whether they have the necessary capabilities”. Following the Reykjavik Summit and given the threat of terrorism, he said, it would be inconceivable to limit the scope of NATO forces, adding, “Wherever they are required, wherever the threat comes from”. NATO had focused its recent capabilities initiatives to make them affordable, nation-specific and based on clear engagements by member states, he explained, which made results more likely.

He said that member states needed to be innovative if they wished to increase the effectiveness of their defence spending. Joint procurement was an option, but it was also necessary to look into the US export licence system and other impediments to armaments cooperation. Deputy Assistant Secretary General Holger Pfeiffer explained that the US too faced shortfalls in the field of capabilities. For NATO members, strategic airlift was a top priority. Member states would discuss establishing a joint capability following the example of AWACS.


Mr Altenburg said with regard to the situation in the Balkans that NATO welcomed the EU proposal to take over its mission in Macedonia. He expected the mission to last a further six months following that take-over. NATO would continue to consider the region as a priority for the security of its members. While the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina was “promising”, Kosovo would pose “a challenge”. Jamie Shea added that NATO had a “job to finish, that of integrating the region into Euro-Atlantic institutions”.

Agreeing with members of the Assembly, Lord Robertson said that the Caucasus and Central Asia would need “all our attention”. “We have all the ingredients for future conflict there”, he added.

Commenting on the fall-out of the recent political divisions in NATO and the EU, NATO officials said they were worried about the result of the imminent referendum in Slovenia on NATO membership. Leading members of the Assembly from Slovenia, however, said they supported Slovenia’s accession to NATO. Addressing Slovenian members, Lord Robertson and President Blaauw agreed that “NATO is the only provider of the kind of security you are looking for”. NATO officials said that the candidate countries would sign accession protocols on 26 March 2003 and that they would attend North Atlantic Council meetings from 27 March 2003 onwards as observers. The formal accession of seven new members was scheduled for May 2004.

NATO Military Committee Chairman General Harald Kujat gave planning details for the new NATO Response Force (NRF), explaining that it should be ready by no later than autumn 2004. The final decision for making pledged troops available to the Response Force remained with the member states.

Deputy Assistant Secretary General Speckhard briefed Assembly members on NATO’s relations with Russia. The Rome 2002 Summit had initiated a new level of partnership with Russia and a number of issues (terrorism, proliferation of WMD and missiles, crisis management, civil protection and military reform) would be discussed in a constructive fashion.

However, a number of controversial issues such as “nuclear transparency and predictability”, “conventional arms control” and “Russia’s handling of Chechnya” would also need to be addressed. It was important for NATO to deal with these issues in a way that “would not sour our cooperation in other areas”, he explained. Russia perceived the situation in Chechnya as a threat to its territorial integrity.

Responding to a question about the consequences of NATO enlargement for relations with the Muslim world, he said that “NATO should do its best not to be perceived as a new north-versus-south alliance”. He was confident that, as in the past, Turkey would help to ensure that Muslim concerns were comprehensively addressed in NATO’s public messages. He agreed that NATO could do more with respect to its Mediterranean dialogue and called on member states to engage further bilaterally in that field.


*** important: please note that the next plenary session of the Assembly (2-4 June 2003) will exceptionally take place in Strasbourg in the Council of Europe Hemicycle. *** We recommend that you make hotel reservations as soon as possible, given that the European Parliament will also be in session there that week ***