PM: NATO Summit demonstrated 'unity in the face of new threats'
In a statement to Parliament on the recent NATO Summit in Prague, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the event
reflected the 'extraordinary changes' in the global security environment 'in which all nations now operate'.
Mr Blair pointed to NATO's enlargement itself has changed. Seven new members - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia - will be joining over the next 18 months. The Prime Minister said:
"This enlargement will strengthen NATO and make the whole continent of Europe more secure."
Turning to NATO's relationships outside its formal membership, Mr Blair said that we now work with Russia as 'an equal
partner', cooperating in 'a wide range of areas'.
The Prime Minister said:
"My great hope is that we are now beginning to include the new Russia as a real partner in meeting the new threats we
face."
The Prime Minister said that the Summit demonstrated 'unity in the face of the new threats that confront us'. He said:
"Every nation spoke of the menace of international terrorism and WMD. Every European country knows it is under threat,
whether known as strong supporters of US policy or not."
Mr Blair added that some of the most powerful expressions of sentiments on terrorism and WMD came 'not from the old but
from the new' members of the NATO Alliance.
The Prime Minister said that the new members had 'a lot to tell us about the values we believe in', commenting that
established countries could be 'complacent about them'.
Mr Blair said in conculsion:
"...the ultimate message from the NATO Summit was far more powerful than discussion of capabilities or formal
structures. It was that if we care about these values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, we should not flinch
from the fight in defending them and I know this country, Britain, will defend them with courage and certainty."
FULL STATEMENT FROM PM FOLLOWS
PM: NATO Summit demonstrated 'unity in the face of new threats'
In a statement to Parliament on the recent NATO Summit in Prague, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the event
reflected the 'extraordinary changes' in the global security environment 'in which all nations now operate'.
Read the Prime Minister's statement on the NATO Summit of 21-22 Summit in full below:
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[Check against delivery]
With permission Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on the NATO Summit in Prague on 20-22 November. With my RHFs the
Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary I represented the UK at the North Atlantic Council, the special meeting of the
North Atlantic Council with the seven new countries invited to become new members, and the Euro Atlantic Partnership
Council. At the outset may I pay tribute to President Havel and our Czech hosts, and to the skilful chairmanship of the
NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, who has been widely and rightly praised for his leadership in this role.
The Summit reflected the extraordinary changes in the global security environment in which all nations now operate.
NATO itself has changed. We decided on seven new members. I congratulate Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
Slovakia and Slovenia on their invitations. They are well deserved. They reflect the progress in reform that all seven
countries have made since the end of the Cold War. All are on course to be in the Alliance by the next Summit in 18
months time, and to be contributors to European security. This enlargement will strengthen NATO and make the whole
continent of Europe more secure.
These invitations will not be the last. The UK will help those who want to join, and who meet the criteria, to succeed
in the future.
Second, NATO continues to build new relationships outside its formal membership. Most importantly, the relationship with
Russia has been transformed this last year. We now work with Russia as an equal partner, cooperating in a wide range of
areas. A good example is the Balkans, where NATO and Russia are together making an immense contribution towards our goal
of a peaceful and stable Balkans playing a full part in the European family.
One of NATO's greatest benefits has been the forum it has provided for its European and trans-Atlantic members to deal
with security challenges together. My great hope is that we are now beginning to include the new Russia as a real
partner in meeting the new threats we face. There was a useful meeting in Prague of the NATO-Russia Council at Foreign
Minister level.
NATO is also pursuing its practical co-operation with Ukraine, and strengthening its wider partnerships with the
Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
NATO is building a close and effective relationship with the EU on crisis management, for example in the Balkans. At
Prague, we decided to maintain a NATO presence in Macedonia for a further limited period. Once the EU-NATO links are in
place, I am keen to see an ESDP operation in Macedonia, to show that Europe can play its part in bringing security and
stability to this part of our continent.
Third, NATO needs to develop new capabilities. The Cold War is over. There are new missions and new threats. The key is
flexibility of response, adaptability of military forces, and modernisation of defence capabilities.
The Prague Summit agreed on three new instruments to help meet these challenges:
a new NATO Response Force will provide NATO with effective forces available at short notice.
all Allies have committed to improve their capabilities in specific ways to support and equip forces that are flexible
and deployable;
and, we agreed on a revised, reduced and refocused command structure.
Above all, the Summit was a profound demonstration of unity in the face of the new threats that confront us. Every
nation spoke of the menace of international terrorism and WMD. We all recognised there is no place to hide from them.
The terrorists do not distinguish between the "soft" or "hard" nations on terrorism. Every European country knows it is
under threat, whether known as strong supporters of US policy or not. Every nation talked of the cells of Al Qaida or
related groups within them, ready to strike at innocent people.
This is not a war which we can avoid. There is no appeasing these fanatics. They won't go more lightly on us if we are
less outspoken in our condemnation of them. Their enemy is anyone who isn't them and they feel as strongly, sometimes
more so, against the moderate Moslem as they do against the Christian or Jew or Hindu.
The NATO Summit affirmed that simple truth. It was a remarkable statement of defiance.
And it linked very clearly and rightly terrorism and WMD. The threat from WMD in the hands of rogue unstable states is
not part of some different danger. It too represents savage indifference to human life. It too crosses national
boundaries without discrimination. It too can't be negotiated with or appeased, only defeated utterly.
The strength of the NATO Summit statement on Iraq was testimony to that belief. There was complete unanimity round the
table that the choice for war or peace lies with Saddam, and that if he breached the will of the UN, the UN would have
to act. There was strong support for multilateralism and for the decision of President Bush to go through the UN. But
equally strong insistence that multilateralism and the UN be seen to work.
And some of the most powerful expressions of these sentiments on terrorism and WMD came not from the old but from the
new members of the NATO Alliance.
President Havel was a prisoner of the old communist regime; he was witness to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact; he has
now presided over NATO's largest gathering. The President of Lithuania, who has seen his country raped and destroyed by
war and totalitarian oppression, who lived for 50 years in Chicago as an exile from his homeland, is now back as its
President. The President of Latvia, for years a Professor in Montreal, spoke in the most moving terms of her country's
long dark years, struggle for freedom and pride in becoming part of NATO.
Each representative with a story to tell and all with the same theme: they know the value of the fight for freedom, for
democracy, for the rule of law, the struggle to break free of totalitarian intolerance and fanaticism. And they know the
meaning of terrorism and WMD in the hands of brutal and repressive states. They know that extremism has just taken a new
form for the 21st century. And they were complete in their determination that these new threats had to be faced,
conquered and confined to history just like the scourges of the 20th century.
They had a lot to tell us about the values we believe in. Sometimes we can be complacent about them. They weren't. They
know their worth. And the ultimate message from the NATO Summit was far more powerful than discussion of capabilities or
formal structures. It was that if we care about these values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, we should not
flinch from the fight in defending them and I know this country, Britain, will defend them with courage and certainty.