U.S. Department of State
96/03/20 Speech: Democratic & Undivided Europe in our Time, Prague
Office of the Spokesman
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Prague, Czech Republic)
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 20, 1996
Text As Delivered
A DEMOCRATIC AND UNDIVIDED EUROPE IN OUR TIME
ADDRESS
BY SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER
Cernin Palace
Prague, Czech Republic
March 20, 1996
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Foreign Minister Zieleniec, fellow Foreign
Ministers, ladies and gentlemen: I would like to speak with you today
about what we must do to fulfil the promise of our time: an undivided
Europe of free nations, stretching from Russia in the east, to the
Atlantic in the west, with this beautiful Czech capital once again at
its heart.
Yesterday I was flying to Prague from Kiev and I was reminded of
this region's painful past of conflict and shifting frontiers. Below
me, I could see towns and villages that in this century alone have been
Russian, Austrian, Soviet, German, Czechoslovak, Polish and now
Ukrainian, Slovak and Czech. These borderlands have been battlegrounds
and burial grounds for Europe's great powers. It was here that this
century's two great wars, and the Cold War, began. And today, it is
here in this region that the greatest threats to European security must
be faced.
Yet it is also here that our century's most inspiring victories
for freedom have unfolded. These hopeful events also have roots in the
long history of this region: They are part of a tradition that includes
the Polish Constitution of 1791, Europe's first written constitution.
They harken back to the Ukrainian Rada of 1917, the first representative
voice of an independent Ukraine. They have strong roots right here in
Prague where democracy flourished after World War I, as fascism rose in
the west, and where freedom flickered ever so briefly after World War II
as Stalinism was imposed from east.
That era in Prague was epitomized by Thomas Masaryk, the elected
President who believed that "for all the evils that may arise from
political liberty, there is one tried remedy: more liberty." It also
produced a Czech woman who learned to cherish freedom in her youth and
who now defends it as America's Ambassador to the United Nations: my
esteemed colleague Madeleine Korbel Albright.
That democratic spirit endured the demoralizing years of
communism. It inspired the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution. It
animated coal miners and students, playwrights and electricians from the
Berlin Wall to the walls of the Kremlin, and it gave them the power to
overcome a totalitarian system that some thought could never be changed
from within. Now, thanks to elected leaders like Vaclav Klaus and his
counterparts, this region is home to the fastest growing economies in
Europe. Many nations are resolving old ethnic and border disputes. All
now have their first real chance to enjoy independence and stability at
the same time.
Europe's fears and hopes have met in the former Yugoslavia. From
the first shots that rang out in Sarajevo, to the destruction of
Vukovar, to the killing fields of Srebrenica, Europe relived the worst
horrors of the First and Second World Wars. On the other hand, if we
look at Bosnia today, we will see something that has never been seen
before: soldiers from the United States and Russia, from Poland and
Lithuania, from the Czech Republic and Germany, and from 26 other
countries joined in a mission of peace, justice, and reconciliation.
This broad participation in IFOR, the implementation force, is taking
NATO's Partnership for Peace to new heights. It is showing the world
how far the nations of central and eastern Europe have come, and how
much they have to contribute as our partners to European security.
Europe's future will be shaped by one of two very different paths:
either by the divisive intolerance that left Bosnia in ruins or by the
democratic integration to which most nations in this region aspire. For
the right choice to prevail, there is a challenge you must meet, a
challenge the United States must meet, and a challenge we must meet
together.
The first challenge is that each nation in this region must take
responsibility for building democratic stability from within. Free
elections and free markets are only the first steps. Building a true
democratic culture requires not just tolerance but respect for human
rights and minority views and a willingness to come to terms with
painful episodes from the past. It requires a free press, free trade
unions and a network of private organizations outside government
control. Likewise, sustaining economic growth requires completing
market reforms. It calls for privatization and a stable legal framework
for investment. It requires accountable institutions that effectively
confront problems like poverty, corruption, crime, and environmental
damage.
This first challenge falls to a new generation in the new
democracies, to the students, the young entrepreneurs, the young mayors,
the young teachers who are building their nations anew. Their parents
and grandparents struggled for many years to give them this opportunity.
With the power to control their destiny, they have a responsibility to
safeguard freedom and to use it with wisdom and justice for the common
good.
The second challenge is for the United States: we must continue
to engage and to lead in Europe. The Cold War may be over, but American
leadership is still critical to transatlantic peace, security, and
democracy. America's efforts helped make possible the smooth
unification of Germany, the withdrawal of Russian forces from the
Baltics, Ukraine's decision to give up nuclear weapons, and now the end
of the war in Bosnia. There are isolationists in my country who would
weaken our vital historic ties to the continent, but I assure you we
will not heed them. It is a central lesson of this century that America
must remain a European power.
The United States has a particular interest in assuring the
success of Europe's new democracies. We have an interest in your
liberty, because when you won your freedom, we were liberated from the
Cold War. We have an interest in your security, because we wish to
avoid the instability that drew over 5 million Americans to fight in two
deadly world wars in Europe. We have an interest in your prosperity,
because our own prosperity depends upon a Europe that is open to our
exports, our investment, and our ideas.
We know we have an interest in your success, because standing here
in Prague, we cannot fail to remember history. In 1938, as Hitler
threatened to conquer Czechoslovakia, many Americans saw his aggression
as a European problem. Yet no European state would intervene at that
time in what Neville Chamberlain dismissed as "a quarrel in a far-away
country between people of whom we know nothing." The world paid the
price for that dangerous short-sightedness.
A half century later, a war in Bosnia threatened peace and
security throughout Europe. And again, it was the United States working
together with Europe that made peace possible. President Clinton
understood that only America, the leader of NATO, could step in and make
a decisive difference.
That is why we went all out for peace at Dayton. That is why I
was in Bosnia at D+45, the 45th day of the NATO enforcement mission, and
that is why I met with the three Balkan leaders this week in Geneva.
Yesterday was D+90, and it is clear that our troops have met their first
critical challenge. The killing has ended. The armies have withdrawn.
And in Geneva, the parties agreed to a series of concrete steps to pave
the way for our next critical test: holding free elections this summer.
Our work in Geneva provides the foundation for our Contact Group meeting
to be held at the Ministerial level on Saturday in Moscow. This series
of meetings reflects the fact that much remains to be done, that we must
stay with the process in Bosnia, stick with it day in and day out. Only
that way will lasting peace be achieved.
In this region, the United States will remain a leader in support
of democracy and free markets. Total American assistance to central
Europe has already topped $10 billion in this post-Cold War period. Our
twelve enterprise funds have capitalized thousands of small businesses.
We have helped rewrite commercial codes, as we did in Latvia, to create
stock exchanges, as we did in Hungary, and to prepare the way for
foreign investment throughout the region.
And we are ready to meet a third challenge, the one we must meet
together. That challenge is to reunite this continent, to erase the
outdated boundaries of the Cold War. At long last, we must become equal
partners, with equal responsibilities.
Fifty years ago, when we emerged from World War II, the United
States forged a permanent alliance with Europe's democratic states.
Together, we created institutions that gave the West a half century of
peace and prosperity. That alliance kept Soviet armies at bay. It also
brought France and Germany together. It integrated Italy and eventually
Spain into our community of democracies. It gave the shattered
economies confidence to recover, and they did recover. This alliance
remains a force for transatlantic unity.
Today, our goal is to extend eastward the same structure of values
and institutions that enabled Western Europe to overcome its own legacy
of conflict and division. These institutions, NATO and the European
Union among them, are not ends in themselves. But history teaches that
they create the conditions that allow democracy and free markets to
flourish.
For Europe's new democracies, integration will bring a new era.
With the struggle for independence won, we are now able to work together
to meet the responsibilities that Western nations share. That is what
we are doing now in Bosnia, and what many of you will do as you
ultimately become full members of NATO and the EU.
Together, we can build lasting security. We can build a true
transatlantic marketplace that will deepen America's ties with a broader
Europe. We can fight terrorism, organized crime and proliferation and
we can protect the environment. We can keep working together in
peacekeeping missions. We can speak and act together in support of
freedom around the world, just as others stood with you during the long
years of communist rule.
We are determined to keep faith with the nations of this region,
to open the door that Stalin shut when he said no to the Marshall Plan.
No nation in Europe should ever again be consigned to a buffer zone
between great powers, or relegated to another nation's sphere of
influence.
To achieve that end, President Clinton has advanced a broad-
ranging strategy for European security. It includes a revitalized NATO,
ready for the missions and roles of the next century. It includes
support for deeper and broader European integration. It includes a
strong and productive relationship with Russia.
The President's approach is comprehensive. It is far-sighted. And
it is working.
We began to put this strategy into place two years ago when
President Clinton proposed the Partnership for Peace, a Partnership that
has been an extraordinary success, a Partnership that has established
habits of cooperation that made the effective operation of IFOR
possible. It will remain a permanent feature of security cooperation in
Europe and we are determined to strengthen it further.
Last weekend, I visited NATO's supreme headquarters in Mons.
Paradoxically enough, in a building where the Allies once planned to
defend Berlin against Soviet attack, Russian officers now work alongside
NATO's members, alongside former neutral countries, and alongside the
nations of central and eastern Europe. In the main hall of that
building, forty-three flags fly in alphabetical order, recognizing no
artificial distinctions between countries. That is our vision for the
new Europe come to life.
For some nations, the Partnership will also prepare the way to
NATO membership. NATO enlargement is not a step we will take lightly.
It involves the most solemn commitments that one nation can make to
another. New allies will be full members of NATO, with all the benefits
that entails. But they must be ready to assume the full risks, costs,
and responsibilities that come with membership.
This year NATO has entered the second phase of a process that has
been gradual, deliberate, and transparent. NATO has begun intensive
consultations with interested partners to determine what they must do,
and what NATO must do, to prepare for enlargement. Based on the
results, we will decide on next steps in December. We are determined to
move forward. NATO has made a commitment to take in new members and it
must not and will not keep new democracies in the waiting room forever.
NATO enlargement is on track and it will happen.
By extending NATO's guarantees to strong, new democracies, we will
extend the area where conflicts are deterred. This will make it less
likely that America will ever again have to send its troops to fight in
this region. Enlargement will help us erase a Cold-War dividing line
drawn solely by the accident of where the Red Army stopped in 1945. The
prospect of enlargement has also given every potential member of NATO an
incentive to maintain democracy and good relations with their neighbors.
In this way, enlargement will benefit members and non-members alike.
Indeed, by encouraging the peaceful resolution of disputes between
countries like Hungary and Slovakia, NATO has already become a force for
conflict prevention in this region. The United States and every NATO
ally looks forward to Slovakia's ratification of its treaty with
Hungary, and we hope that Hungary and Romania will reach a similar
agreement soon.
NATO is the linchpin of European security, but other institutions
are also critical. The OSCE is vital because true stability depends on
the standards it promotes: respect for an open society and for the rule
of law. This year, the OSCE will test its new operational role as it
supervises elections in Bosnia. The Chairman in Office of the OSCE at
the present time is Switzerland, stepping forward to take new
responsibilities in a Europe moving toward integration.
The enlargement of the European Union is just as critical to the
future of central and eastern Europe as is the enlargement of NATO. It
will tear down what Lech Walesa called the "Silk Curtain," the
artificial economic barrier that still divides Europe between east and
west. The standards the EU establishes will lock in democratic and
market reforms and give this region's courageous entrepreneurs a fair
chance to compete in a single European market. The EU must maintain its
momentum toward enlargement, just as NATO is doing.
Let me make one final, critical comment about our strategy of
integration. The process will be inclusive. It will not build new
walls across this continent. It will not recognize any fundamental
divide among the Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic parts of Europe. That
kind of thinking fueled the killing in the former Yugoslavia and it must
have no place in the Europe that we are building.
The enlargement of Western institutions will naturally begin with
the strongest candidates for membership -- if it did not start with
them, it would not start at all. But our goal is not to help these
nations "escape" from central and eastern Europe at the expense of their
neighbors. On the contrary, those who are first have an obligation to
ensure their membership keeps the door open for others.
Ukraine's integration with Europe is especially important to
stability and security in this region. That is why we value Ukraine's
participation in the Partnership for Peace, why we want NATO and Ukraine
to build a strong relationship, and why we will participate in a major
military exercise in Ukraine this summer. Yesterday in Kiev, I
reaffirmed America's commitment to Ukraine's freedom, independence, and
prosperity.
It is also critical that Russia take its rightful place in the new
Europe. Nowhere is it more important that democracy take root than in
Russia. Russia's reform efforts are under strain and success is far
from assured. But we support reform because in the long run, its success
benefits not only the Russian people but Europe and America as well.
One of the central issues in the future of Europe will be Russia's
relationship with its newly independent neighbors. Last week, we were
confronted with a dark vision of that future when the Russian Duma voted
in favor of reconstituting the U.S.S.R. Five years ago, millions of
former Soviet citizens freely chose independence and the United States
will continue to support their right and determination to keep it. I
applaud President Yeltsin for opposing the Duma resolution. He and most
Russians understand that Russia's interests lie in treating all its
neighbors as equals, as sovereign partners in an integrated Europe.
On Friday, I will be meeting with President Yeltsin and Foreign
Minister Primakov in Moscow to discuss our common interest in the safety
of nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors and to prepare for the April
nuclear summit. We will review our efforts on arms control, including
our goal of a comprehensive nuclear test ban. And we will discuss the
positive contribution Russia can make to European security. Russia can
and should develop a cooperative relationship with NATO, in and beyond
the Partnership for Peace, building on the excellent cooperation between
Russia and NATO, as well as Russia and the United States, in Bosnia.
We must avoid the danger of three Europes: a prosperous, stable
west, a center on its way to NATO and the EU, and an east consigned to
isolation and crisis. Central Europe's integration will neither
determine, nor be determined, by events in Russia. But we have an equal
interest in integrating, not isolating, Russia.
Of course, Russia must not isolate itself. Its integration, like
that of central Europe, will depend on the choices its leaders and its
people make. Integration depends on adherence to international norms at
home and abroad.
Today, every nation in this region can make the choices that lead
to an undivided Europe: a Europe whose eastern frontiers are determined
by shared values, not by geography or history. As President Clinton
said right here in Prague: "Freedom's boundaries now should be defined
by new behavior, not old history." The West itself must be open to open
societies and open markets everywhere.
Europe's new democracies were born in a peaceful struggle for
dignity. That struggle committed millions of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles,
Romanians, Russians and others to the highest standards of solidarity,
civility and courage. It created a generation that, in the words of
Pope John Paul II, "called good and evil by their name, and did not blur
the picture."
That special history gives you a special role to play, in
partnership with the United States, in Europe's future. For each of us,
that role must live up to what President Havel has called "the politics
of responsibility." We must accept the responsibility to uphold the
ideals that set us free.
So let us rededicate ourselves to an old goal. Let us build a
Europe of sovereign, equal democracies, united with each other and
America by shared values and institutions. Let us build a Europe where
you can always count on us and we can always count on you.
Let us make this vision a reality in our time, not in our children's
time.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Czech News Agency, Stejskalova. Mr. Secretary of State,
Czechs, due to their historical experience, deep inside feel threatened
by Germans and by Russians as well. Can the USA in the near future
provide them with any persuasive guarantee to rid them of such a
feeling, to ensure them that such a feeling is unnecessary any more?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: The acoustics here, at least as the question
came to me robbed me of some of the words you said, but I think I got
the gist of your question as I understood it, that is, what can the
United States do, what can be done to try to ease the sense of concern
and insecurity created. That is precisely what our goal and role is.
That is, I think, what President Clinton had in mind when, at the NATO
summit in January of 1994, he emphasized that NATO enlargement would go
forward, that there was no question about that, that it would be steady
and deliberate, that it would go forward. It was also what he had in
mind when the United States, at his direction, proposed the Partnership
for Peace, enabling all the countries of central and eastern Europe to
participate with NATO to begin to develop the habits of cooperation in
NATO, to begin to prepare for the possible membership in NATO, but to
have the security that comes from consultation with NATO. As we have
proceeded down this road I think that the countries of central and
eastern Europe have recognized that this process is a force for
stability. We have also maintained the dialogue with Russia in this
period, recognizing the importance of that. And now, after extensive
negotiations between Russia and the United States, and NATO, Russian and
American forces are fighting together in the sector of Bosnia where the
United States forces are involved I hope of leading the way to greater
security and confidence among them thus giving confidence to the rest of
the region. And so I would say to you perhaps the single sentence that
is most meaningful and that is that the United States intends to remain
engaged in Europe. We intend to continue to be a European power, and
we're very much concerned about the future of each of the countries
here.
QUESTION: Radio Free Europe, Bartosova. Mr. Secretary of State, could
the American concept of security in Europe be changed, and if it could,
then how? If the Russian communists do win the June presidential
elections if, for example, Mr. Zjuganov leaves the reform path, and
let's say if they even more strongly oppose the enlargement of NATO?
Thank you.
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: The United States certainly has designed for
itself no role in the Russian elections. We have a very strong interest
in elections being held and that they be fair and full. But we will
obviously have to work with whoever is elected there, but we hope that
whoever is elected there will be committed to both economic and
political reform. Russia is a country of great resources. We want to
include them, not exclude them. We very much hope that the Russian
people will choose leaders who are committed to a path of integration in
Europe, committed to a path of market reform. And I think at this point
the most important thing for the United States to do is to be steady in
its approach -- as I have outlined it here today in my speech -- and not
to speculate about or try to become involved in the Russian election,
but to be concerned about its security in the future, to be concerned
about freedom and security in Europe as a whole.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, at times Moscow seems to be indicating it may
allow some central European nations to join NATO as long as the Baltics
remain outside NATO military structures. What is the position of the
United States?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: The United States has commenced upon with its
NATO allies a process of enlargement that does not exclude any country
which is a member of the Partnership for Peace. This is no time to be
talking about possible deals. This is no time to be talking about
qualified membership in NATO. As I said in my remarks, members coming
in as new members will have the full set of both responsibilities and
rights as NATO members. I think that it is a strong view of the United
States that all the members of the Partnership for Peace who wish to do
so are eligible to be considered for membership. As I say, this is not
the time to be making the deals of old balances of powers, or to be
carving up Europe in some new ways, or to be setting up some new
dividing lines. President Clinton's vision is an integrated Europe that
is not involved in old dividing lines and old blocs, but a Europe that
is working together. We will continue to strive for that and will
continue to strive for a Europe in which all the members of the
Partnership for Peace are considered for membership if they wish to do
so, but most importantly a Europe in which nations may constantly look
toward integration and a peaceful future. Thank you very much.
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