EU Statement in response to NATO Secretary General (Vienna)

We welcome Lord Robertson back to the Permanent Council for his second and last visit in his present capacity in which he will soon be succeeded by our own Chairman in Office. You were the first NATO Secretary General ever to visit the Permanent Council. Your visit this time underscores the close relationship between the various organisations and institutions involved in European security, in the spirit of the Platform for Co-operative Security.

As you have rightly emphasized, this is a time of change for most international organisations and institutions. They have to evolve and adapt themselves to face the emerging new threats to security and stability. As others are doing as well, the OSCE is developing its own Strategy to address them, which is being readied for the upcoming Maastricht Ministerial. Of crucial importance in dealing effectively with new threats, will be the enhancement of co-operation between various organisations, thereby reinforcing the specific strengths of each one.

Like NATO and the OSCE, the EU is particularly deeply involved in the Western Balkans. The Thessaloniki Summit set out the European integration perspective of the countries of the region; the OSCE, through its field operations and its institutions, makes an important contribution in this regard. It also makes an important contribution in the security field, for example through its involvement in the implementation of the Dayton-Paris agreement.

The EU welcomes the co-operation which has developed between the three organisations (and others, such as the UN and the Council of Europe). We should continue to work for complementarity and for mutually reinforcing activities. The 21st Century presents so many challenges, both old and new, that we cannot afford to use our resources inefficiently. We therefore welcome, for example, the work presently undertaken to follow up the Ohrid Conference on Border Security and Management.

NATO, the OSCE and the EU should also consider developing their co-operation in other areas as well with respect to the multi-faceted political, security and economic challenges of today, each contributing on the basis of its specific competencies. Like Lord Robertson, we believe that close contact between our organisations is essential. We welcome the efforts which our current Chairman in Office has made in this respect (and hope that he will continue them in his next appointment) and encourage the incoming Chairmanship to carry them forward.

Finally, we thank Lord Robertson for his valuable contribution to the cause of European security and stability during his time as NATO Secretary General, and wish him every success in future.

The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia and the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey align themselves with this statement.

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