Memorandum from Joanna Kaminska
The new Eastern European Members' of NATO and
the EU approach towards the future of NATO and the ESDP and to
NATO-EU relations.
The analysis investigates the Central and Eastern
European states (CEEs) approach to the major debates concerning
the NATO's development, as well as the new members views on the
future of the ESDP.
1. Debate concerning the NATO's role in the
world
The new Eastern European members perceive the
NATO as a major traditional security guarantee. The Central and
Eastern European countries (CEEs), support the strengthening the
NATO's primacy and their participation in the NATO missions reflects
this idea. The CEEs believe that the obligations based on the
NATO's article 5 are the major priority for the Alliance and therefore
should not be reformed.
In spite of a global involvement of the new
NATO members in "out of area" operations, they still
are very skeptical to the idea of "global NATO", therefore
the American concept of alliances between NATO and different continents
(NATO-New Zealand. NATO-Japan or NATO-Australia). The Euro-Atlantic
sphere is a major place of activity for the NATO according to
the new members, and cooperation with countries of different (not
traditionally NATO) regions should not affect the main Alliance's
aims. This "new cooperation" concept should not be formal
and institutionalized but can be a part of a less formal cooperation
between NATO and other regions.
2. Debate concerning the future of the NATO's
"out of area" operations
According to the Central and Eastern European
countries North Atlantic Treaty Organization should rethink its
involvement in new regions concerning the type of missions sent
to react to the international crisis situations. Not always the
situation requires the deployment of military resources, but in
many cases the civilian or technical support might be sufficient.
Some of the new EU countries experts argue that NATO's military
operations outside the Euro-Atlantic sphere can weaken the security
of this region, as NATO would have a problem with parallel presence
outside Europe and in Europe or at its borders in case of the
conflict, therefore the question of available resources should
be debated. The lack of resources questions also touches the issue
of the financial contribution during the deployment. According
to Poland the list of activities funded by the common budget should
be made, as in the moment only those contributing to the missions
have to cover the costs, which in case of the poorer countries
is often a problem.
3. Debate concerning the NATO and the EU
relationship developement
The development of the European Security and
Defence Policy (ESDP) of the EU has affected the NATO's ability
to work with the EU partners, as the majority of the CEE countries
perceive NATO as a first guarantee of their security, which not
necessarily is the case for the old, Western members. The CEEs
do not want to choose between NATO and the EU highlighting the
complementarities of those two organizations. This is reflected
in the preference for as little duplication as possible causing
the animosity amongst the EU members over the EU military Headquarters,
which the CEEs oppose. The duplication question is also connected
with the issue of the military deployment as the new EU members
contribute to the EU ESDP missions and NATO operations in the
same time. According to the CEEs there should be more complementarities
between two organizations concerning the operational deployment.
Polish and Czech Republic's experts believe that NATO and the
EU should work out new agreement based on the example of Berlin
Plus, where NATO would be supported by the civil resources and
capabilities of the EU and the EU could use NATO's military capabilities.
4. Debate concerning the NATO's future enlargements
The majority of the CEEs support further Eastern
enlargement understanding its importance for the democracy building
and reform transposition. Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria
and Slovakia support the NATO's enlargement eastwards and on the
Balkan States, highlighting the need of proving the real identification
with the Euro-Atlantic values and security interests, together
with ability to fulfill the elementary military standards.
5. Debate concerning the European Security
and Defense Policy of the EU and the European security
The transatlantic relationship is of a major
importance for the CEEs and the NATO is still regarded as a main
security guarantee, due to both geopolitics and history of the
Central and Eastern European states. The CEEs were first very
skeptical to the development of the EU security and defense capabilities,
but the growing importance of new security challenges is recognized
and the CEEs started to appreciate more the ESDP potential, believing
that ESDP has good instruments to tackle them. The new EU and
NATO members, especially highlight the importance of the civilian
component of the ESDP missions contributing to the ESDP mission
not only the military but also technical and expert resources
(Lithuanians being an important contributor to the EU rule-of-law
mission in Georgia). The change of approach in the new EU members
has also its roots in the public opinion views as the governments
of the CEES have to take to consideration that the public opinion
in those countries is very much in favour of the ESDP, largely
as a result of the general satisfaction with the EU membership.
According to the Eurobarometer polls 88% of Czechs, 86% of Latvians,
Slovaks and Slovenians, 85% of Lithuanians 84% of Poles and 81%
of Hungarians are in favour of the ESDP, with the 75% average
within other EU members.
3 December 2007
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