Policy Statement delivered by Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the German Bundestag on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 22 April 1999

This weekend the Heads of State and Government of the NATO member nations will assemble in Washington. Our original intention was to celebrate together a special anniversary: the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty fifty years ago.

Fifty years of NATO, which particularly we Germans cannot rate too highly, has meant fifty years of development in peace, freedom and democracy. In this assessment the key factor is not NATO's military achievements. Right from the outset, and today this is truer than ever, NATO has been an alliance founded on shared values.

And given the current world situation, NATO's future is clearly as an alliance committed to peace, democracy and human rights.

We have seen how the threat of strife and armed conflict looms wherever democracy is absent. Wherever dictators seek to impose their will on their own nations as well as their neighbours.

It is this recognition that has inspired NATO's action as a defence community.

That is why we will not be spending the weekend in jubilant celebration. The war in Kosovo is today at the top of the Alliance's political agenda. Also at the Washington summit therefore the situation in South-East Europe will be the main focus.

If the Alliance's commitment to the values it proclaimed was to mean anything, after all, NATO had to act, it had to confront the systematic expulsions and mass murder taking place in Kosovo.

The Alliance had to demonstrate it will not abandon a part of Europe to repression and barbarism.

The international community has left no stone unturned to settle the conflict in Kosovo by diplomatic means.

However, all efforts to achieve a peaceful solution foundered in the face of the ruthless intransigence of the leadership in Belgrade.

With catastrophe looming, the Alliance finally had no other choice. It had to resort to military action to make Belgrade realize the consequences of the war it was waging on its own people

Having unleashed a brutal campaign against the Albanian majority in Kosovo, the dictator Milosevic had to be shown that the weak have in NATO a strong friend and ally ready and willing to defend their human rights.

By the same token the Alliance is doing its utmost to relieve as far as possible the plight of the refugees. It is giving logistical and financial support to the neighbouring countries most severely affected by the refugee exodus.

NATO itself has provided emergency accommodation for tens of thousands of refugees.

Lastly, a good many countries - with Germany leading the way - have offered the refugees a temporary home.

The Alliance was and still is - that is important to emphasize - at all times ready to respond to any credible signal: finding a political solution to the conflict is the focus of all our efforts.

NATO has, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and also the European Union, set out its conditions for suspending the air-strikes:

-an immediate halt to all use of force,

-withdrawal of all military forces, special police forces and paramilitary units from Kosovo,

-deployment of international security forces so that the refugees can return home without fear.

The German Government supports the initiative outlined by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 9 April 1999.

The political fora of the NATO members and the German Foreign Minister first and foremost are indefatigable in their efforts to seek a political solution and get back to the negotiating table.

It is entirely up to the Yugoslav leadership to fully accept the international demands and to act on them without delay.

We remain keen to see Russia play an important part in the search for a peaceful settlement. Lasting peace on the Balkans is, I am convinced, in Russia's own best interest.

Our long-term goal must be to ensure democratic and peaceful development throughout the region. That will obviously mean opening up not just a security but also an economic perspective for the countries of South-East Europe.

As part of a strategy for the entire region the European Union, the OSCE and NATO will all have a role to play in integrating these countries into the Euro-Atlantic structures.

In participating in the NATO operation in Kosovo, Germany has assumed its share of the overall responsibility. Our contribution is not just a normal expression of Alliance solidarity.

As part of the democratic community we Germans, also in the light of our history, have an obligation to stand up for peace and security and against repression, expulsions and the use of force.

We all know our soldiers taking part in this operation are facing considerable personal risk. But also all other Germans involved in the relief effort in the Balkans are daily risking their lives to help the many people there in dire need of help.

For over forty years the East-West conflict was a fact of life in Europe. Today that is past history.

At the Washington summit we will be welcoming three new Alliance members: Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Three countries that just ten years ago were members of the Warsaw Pact.

We Germans felt a special commitment towards these three new members. We have not forgotten the prodigious contribution these nations made in bringing about German reunification.

Reunification would never have happened, had Germany not been firmly integrated into the Atlantic Alliance.

The opening up of the Alliance to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is part and parcel of our efforts to build a Europe-wide order of peace.

Erstwhile enemies have become partners. Our common aim now is to develop a new strategic vision: an order that will secure peace and stability, founded on precepts of human rights, justice and democratic, social and ecological development.

This also means greater responsibility for Europe. The countries of Europe can only really pull their weight, live up to this responsibility if they evolve a common European security and defence policy.

Obviously key elements of the new Strategic Concept will be very much in line with NATO traditions since 1949.

Also in future a core function will be defence of the NATO area. At the same time the Alliance will remain the foundation of a stable security environment. And as hitherto the Alliance will remain the central forum for consultation among the Allies.

The revised Strategic Concept will in addition define a new core function. This will be the response to the new challenges facing the Alliance.

Given the new threats that have emerged, our paramount goal must be to strengthen security and stability on our continent.

The United States involvement, through the Alliance, with Europe as well as its presence there remain crucial to the security of our continent.

Now the East-West conflict has been overcome, it is today plainer than ever that to achieve security, military means alone cannot suffice.

A modern security policy must create a nexus between peace and socioeconomic development. That is what I understand by good crisis management and effective crisis prevention.

And that is why in Kosovo, too, the issue is not simply military victory. To open up a political and economic perspective for the entire region: that is our aim.

In this context Europe is already playing a part commensurate with its greater responsibility for the world.

With its willingness to take responsibility for the defence of human rights, legal certainty and respect for the general principles of law, Europe through the Alliance is making its own contribution to the political definition of our continent as a humane Europe, a Europe of human rights.

Soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Alliance extended an offer of extensive cooperation to the former Warsaw Pact countries.

A new forum for security policy cooperation was created with the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, since 1997 the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.

Alongside the Russian Federation and Ukraine, it also includes all the other successor states of the former Soviet Union, as well as the young democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Partnership for Peace, founded in 1994, became the Alliance's most successful programme of all.

It was in Bosnia that this partnership faced its first major test. And it passed this test very successfully.

Together with Russia and other partners, the Alliance is today ensuring the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Dayton agreement meant a halt could be called to unspeakable atrocities in this long-suffering country.

The deployment of IFOR troops and their continuation as SFOR serves as a perfect example today of NATO's commitment to crisis management.

At the NATO summit, we will adopt a package of initiatives to make the Partnership for Peace even more effective.

It will be a matter of further enhancing cooperation between the partner states' armed forces. At the same time we want to extend the civil aspects of the partnership.

The Alliance's cross-border cooperation does not just mean being open for dialogue. It also means keeping the door open for new members. The entry of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary on 12 March made it clear that NATO was not and is not an exclusive club.

We will show interested candidates ways to start their preparations for possible membership now, and give active support as they do so.

We also want to further strengthen the distinctive relationship between NATO and Ukraine. By concluding the Charter on the partnership between NATO and Ukraine in Madrid in 1997, the Alliance underlined the significance of this relationship.

The first summit meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission will now take place in Washington. There we will emphasize that the Alliance will continue to support the development of a stable, independent Ukraine in the future.

Whether it is to move closer to membership or, as with Ukraine, to develop a stronger partnership, one aspect is always to the fore: the countries concerned seek military security.

But they want and need economic as well as social stability. Both are in NATO's interest. Exporting political stability makes the whole continent a safer place.

No one in Europe should regard this process with suspicion. This is particularly true of Russia. The Russian Federation continues to be the Alliance's most important security partner.

Closely involving Russia in the responsibility for European security is a key component of Alliance policy.

The NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council established by the NATO-Russia Founding Act has proved to be a valuable instrument for dialogue and cooperation.

We have succeeded in the last two years in breathing life into the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council. This forum has played a key role, particularly in the fields in which the Alliance and Russia did not see eye to eye.

Through this cooperation based on trust Russia has been given the opportunity to get to know the Alliance's ways of thinking and working at first hand.

We want to further extend this cooperation. Russia, too, should recognize the opportunities offered by the dialogue in the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council, suspended at the end of March.

However, Russia for its part must face up to its responsibility to make constructive contributions to establishing European security. And I mean that in particular with regard to solving the Kosovo crisis.

The founding of NATO fifty years ago was a unique, historic move. For the first time, Europe and America, the old and the new world, came together to defend European values, values which have become universal: freedom, democracy and human rights.

For the people of Germany and the whole of the European Union, there is no political or cultural alternative to this Western alliance.

But the Transatlantic Partnership can only flourish if it takes the increased European responsibility into account. Incidentally, our American friends share this view.

We want a new Europe for the new NATO and we want the new NATO for the new Europe.

In recent years, the united Europe has taken momentous steps towards irreversible economic and political unity.

With the introduction of the common currency, the euro, a large part of the European Union performed a genuine act of joint sovereignty.

Now Europe faces a twofold challenge: to strengthen and enlarge the Union.

A Common Foreign and Security Policy which is worthy of the name and the development of a European Security and Defence Dimension are cornerstones of this process.

The Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam open up new scope for action in this field. The European Council will have the competence to establish guidelines for the Western European Union on defence policy matters.

In the future, the European Union will need its own political and military decision-making structures. But we certainly do not want to duplicate existing structures.

But with my proposal to confer the office of the WEU Secretary General on the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, we want to give a clear signal that Europe will also be able to speak with one voice in security and defence policy issues in the future.

We are all agreed within the Alliance that international military operations beyond Alliance borders need to be clearly rooted in international law.

Thus I want to say at this point that I respect the arguments of those who maintain that there was no such basis in the case of NATO's operations in Kosovo.

But after careful deliberation, I consider the legal basis of NATO's action, that is to contain a humanitarian crisis, to be both valid and sufficient.

International law sets out clear rules with regard to the treatment of refugees and their right to return safely to their homeland.

I would like to emphasize that no one wants to detract from the United Nations as an organ of international understanding and crisis management.

Quite the opposite. Hence I invited Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, to last week's meeting of European Heads of State and Government in Brussels.

And that is why I openly welcome the Secretary-General's readiness to work with us on the peaceful solution to the Kosovo conflict. And I am delighted to be able to welcome Kofi Annan to Berlin for further talks next week.

Respect for the United Nations is undisputed in the Alliance. NATO is not an Alliance in which one partner imposes his opinion on others. It is and remains a community of shared values.

That is why we are partners in this Alliance and accept responsibility within this Alliance. Not because we are forced to. Rather out of firm conviction. And because we know that we can rely on NATO's commitment to our common values.

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