Statement delivered at NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, December 11, 1996
Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished colleagues: It is an honor to speak with you on the 5th anniversary of the creation of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. I want to take a few moments to discuss NATO's efforts to bring Europe together and the implications our progress will have for this body and its members.
As Secretary of State, I have been to Moscow, to Riga, to Warsaw, to Kiev, to Prague, to Budapest, to Almaty. The scars of history are still evident in all the new democracies I have visited. But in the ways that truly matter, it is clear that an undivided Europe is coming together before our eyes. Free markets are thriving. Free elections are becoming a matter of course. New treaties, new understandings, and new forms of cooperation among nations and militaries are erasing old divides. Thirteen Partner countries have participated in IFOR, the broadest military coalition in European history. We are grateful that all will remain in the Stabilization Force.
When the NACC was launched, democratic and free market institutions were only beginning to take hold in central and eastern Europe. NATO had not yet defined the roles it would play or the missions it would undertake in a Europe without divisions. But we already knew our Alliance could not stand still and that its Cold War frontier should not be sustained.
The NACC was the first bridge NATO constructed over Europe's old divide. Until the 1994 NATO summit, it was the only structure for cooperation between NATO and Europe's new democracies. It laid the groundwork for all we have accomplished together since.
Those accomplishments have been remarkable. In 1994, NATO launched the Partnership for Peace. It has been a tremendous success. Thanks to the Partnership, our soldiers already train, plan and serve together. In 1994, NATO also began a steady, deliberate process of enlargement, which is well underway. NATO is also adapting itself to meet new challenges; its readiness to take on new missions is clearly on display in Bosnia.
Thanks to the progress you have made and the progress NATO has made, our cooperation can be far deeper today that it was when the NACC was created. Today, we are striving toward nothing less than the integration of Europe. NATO, along with other European institutions, will continue to play a central role in this effort.
Thanks to the progress you have made and the progress NATO has made, our cooperation can be far deeper today than it was when the NACC was created. Today we are striving toward nothing less than the integration of Europe. NATO, along with other European institutions, will continue to play a central role in this effort.
Since 1994, we have been pursuing three tracks: equipping NATO for new roles and missions, reforming its internal structure, and extending its reach to new allies and partners. Today, NATO is ready to take each of these elements to a new level. Our partners will be able to participate in the full range of NATO's new missions. Those partners that are ready to meet the responsibilities of NATO membership will soon have a chance to be considered for membership. All our partners -- whether they join NATO sooner, later, or not at all -- will have an opportunity to help shape a secure and democratic Europe.
Yesterday NATO took important steps forward. We approved the follow-on force for Bosnia. We approved a major enhancement of the Partnership for Peace. We declared that in today's Europe, NATO has no intention, no plan, and no reason to station nuclear weapons on the territory of any new members. NATO signaled its readiness to develop a fundamentally new relationship with Russia.
We agreed that our leaders should come together at a summit in Madrid on July 8th and 9th, 1997. The summit will invite some of our partners to begin negotiations to enter NATO by 1999. NATO also pledged that it will remain open to additional members.
The Alliance will also work with you to create the Atlantic Partnership Council, that would replace the NACC. The Atlantic Partnership Council will be the collective voice of the Partnership for Peace. It will give its members a formal consultative mechanism with the Alliance and a mechanism for cooperating with each other, not just directly with NATO. Most important, it will help shape the future of the Partnership. The Council will be open to every member of the Partnership and of the NACC. I am pleased that so many members of the NACC have expressed their support for this idea.
We have traveled an enormous distance together in the last five years. Seeing our partnership take shape has been one of the most gratifying results of my tenure as Secretary of State. I can tell you that President Clinton is determined to build on our progress, and I am confident that together we will take the next logical steps in building a free and undivided transatlantic community.
(###)