Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia
 
15.10.2009.

Minister's authored text in NIN



At this moment, Serbia is not interested in applying for a membership request, or has NATO ever posed such a condition for further enlargement of cooperation between Serbia and NATO.

A matter of relations between NATO and Serbia has become active again, and turning this matter into a public discussion on issues of vital importance for the future of one state is an everyday practice in developed democracies. The problem with our country lies in the fact that this topic become activated every once and a while for the purpose of demagogic interests and party interests, based on assumptions, speculations and prejudices, and not on knowledge and facts. This is how the membership of Serbia in NATO becomes activated on completely wrong terms.

Given the bad experiences with the Alliance in 1999, as the apex of a wrong policy of the at the time wrong state leadership, such debate will not help us define the form which best suits the geographical position and the foreign interests of our country. It is therefore necessary that we open a constructive debate and in cooperation with the expert public to start a rational analysis on the most beneficial form of cooperation of Serbia with the NATO. Today, the citizens of Serbia wish to have a good life, good education, a peaceful and safe life for themselves and their families, to have their human rights fully protected and respected….so this poses a question whether we should risk our future for the sake of the past/ let me just list several of the subjects which support this view.


FIRSTLY, The issue of NATO membership is not a subject we are dealing with at this moment. NATO implements its enlargement policy through a defined “open door” policy, which means that NATO is ready to accept those European countries which are ready and willing to take on obligations stemming from the membership, as defined by the Washington Agreement on Establishing NATO in 1949. In practice, this means attaining goals and fulfilling preconditions necessary for the membership. At this point, neither Serbia is interested in this, or has NATO ever posed the membership as a precondition for further enlargement of cooperation. On the contrary, Serbian Parliament has reached a decision to be neutral in military terms, and this decision remains valid as long as this parliamentary resolution is effective. This concept needs further elaboration in terms of concrete goals and strategic options, transparent for al the citizens of Serbia. In addition to the set of laws in the area of defense, the adoption of the National Security Strategy is also being considered along with the Defense Strategy. These are two very important documents which Serbia, since its newly attained independence, has been adopting for the first time.


SECONDLY, NATO is no longer the same alliance of 12 founding countries, which was build as a response to the start of the ideological conflict between the Eastern and the Western Bloc. Today it is an alliance made up of 28 states widely accepted as a key element of European and international security order. There are many indications pointing to the fact that NATO after 60 years of existence will continue to be present as a strong political, security and economic reality for sure. Let me remind you of some of these realities: the return of France into an integrated command structure and appointing the French general Stéphane Abrial as the first non-American commander of the Allied Command Transformation; Croatia and Albania have been accepted with potential new member states; the security agenda of the alliance has been enlarged to include, besides traditional security issues, new trends such as cyber-crime, climate change and energy efficiency, which are all challenges for our country. Also the drafting of the new NATO concept is expected to be adopted in 2010 in Portugal.

Furthermore, there is the issue of the new Secretary General Anders Fogg Rasumsen, someone with the experience of a Prime Minister. Another thing worth noting is the fact that Serbia is surrounded by NATO countries, as Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Croatia are full member of NATO, while Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have defined attaining membership as their foreign policy goal. We should not forget the fact that NATO is present in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija where the cooperation of the Serbian armed forces with KFOR is the key to the stability of the whole region.

NATO as an economic alliance assembles al the most advanced countries in the world, and we are witnessing a soaring of market shares and the level of investments in al newly accepted countries. On the other hand, this opens up new opportunities for promoting home defense industry.

THIRDLYSerbia is a member of the Partnership for Peace Program which is line with the majority support of its citizens and which has been defined as the proper measure of the current engagement of our country within NATO. Serbia was accepted in PfP together with Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2006 thanks to the definitive and committed support of the United States. However, the question is who come that Serbia as part of the former SFRY which had started considering NATO membership as early as 1954, by the signing of the Balkan Alliance, turned to be one of the last countries to join the Partnership for Peace Program is a matter that should be analyzed in depth and this matter should be left to the historians to deal with. For us, the main priority is to use all the necessary mechanisms available to us in order to become a fully active member of this program and to become an “advanced” participant country such as Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and Ireland. One of the most important and challenging tasks in the future is opening a mission in NATO HQ in Brussels, which has been projected for the end of this year. the purpose of this mission is to enable expert committees to improve our communication with NATO open to PfP signatories (some 100 out of existing 300 committees). Furthermore, these committees will enable better bilateral cooperation among 50 member countries. However, even in this mater we are running behind, as we are the only country without a mission. For example, Montenegro opened its mission in 2007, BiH in April this year and Russia has 50 diplomats engaged around the clock in Brussels.

FOURTHLY, risks, threats and challenges to security have become identical to all countries and regions, so the idea of security has become a shared concept. This becomes apparent in the fact that in this world undergoing changes at an incredible speed, former enemies become allies guided by shgared interests. Germany and France illustrate this best. In line with this, NATO and Russia have entered a new stage of relations where both sides try to overcome obstacles and to establish a new form of mutual understanding. For instance, USA desisting from building a rocket shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, along with forsaking an aggressive rhetoric pertaining to the potential membership of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO, something Russia had been strongly opposing, gives us home for moderate optimism in this respect. On the other hand, Russia is helping NATO in its mission in Afghanistan enabling an unhindered and free landline communication for supplying troops, while also proving to be an irreplaceable factor in solving the Iran problem. Serbia, on the other hand, has shared a very hard history with NATO, and the consequences and memories are still fresh, weighing heavily upon our people’s souls. However, ten years after we should at least try to find a way to make a constructive dialogue in our society with respect to NATO-related issues, and not to reduce all such attempts to quasi-patriotism and cheap demagogy. Maybe it is time to consider emotional resetting when it comes to our emotions regarding NATO by taking the full potential of the Partnership for Peace Program.

FIFTH And the last, but not the least, is the fact that NATO is an organization with the highest security standards in the world. Serbia has opted to develop the best system of defense by implementing NATO standards as such and which are in line with the neighboring countries given that the current threats rise above the national turning into a transnational problem and no state, regardless of its demonstrated power and size, can face these threats alone. Ful PFP participation will speed up the reform by exchanging experiences with the states which have already gone though it al.

Furthermore, friendly states such as Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia which support our stance regarding the Kosovo issue are NATO member. Does this risk our cooperation with them or are we one again taking a rather partial, irrational view of the whole matter failing to see the bigger picture?
 
MOD
Ministry of defence Republic of Serbia, Bircaninova 5 street, Belgrade
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