NATO Secretary General's Successor
Generation Conference, London 19 October
Remarks
by State Secretary Espen Barth Eide
Ladies and gentlemen,
NATO is relevant. The need for multinational
organizations that can provide peace and stability is as great as ever. NATO is
unique in the way that it harbours a transatlantic perspective to the current
security challenges. My view is that rumours of NATO’s demise are greatly
exaggerated. The Alliance has adapted, and is maintaining its relevance.
Still, there is no room for complacency. We need to
continuously stimulate and support the process of transformation and adaptation.
Reforming and transforming NATO.
The only way for NATO to stay relevant in the 21st
century is that citizens perceive us as such. People need to feel that NATO is
providing security and stability. Consequently NATOs decision makers need to clearly
demonstrate that we are attuned to the ever-changing security challenges. This
impels us to constantly strive to improve the way we do business.
This has institutional as well as political aspects.
On the institutional side, the NATO organization is long overdue for reform.
NATO’s Secretary General has successfully put this important issue on the
agenda at NATO. As a result, serious efforts have been made to reorganize and
streamline NATO. However, I think the Secretary General will agree that this is
an extremely difficult task. Deeply entrenched national interests hinders
much-needed reform.
The inherent problem is that we are continuously changing
NATO in insufficient, incremental steps. In my view we are now at a point where
we need to consider a more fundamental approach.
In my opinion, we should take a new and ambitious
approach at the way NATO is organised and does business. We need a
comprehensive review of how NATO Headquarters, the NATO Command Structure and
NATO’s Agencies best can interact and meet the broad spectrum of future tasks.
We must also address the need for fundamental change of our rather rigid and
inflexible defence planning system.
This work must reflect the Comprehensive Political
Guidance and the new Level of Ambition. It must also take into account the fact
that NATO is heavily engaged in multiple demanding current operations, and that
this changes the character of our Alliance.
A coordinated approach to operations.
On the political side, an important point that needs
to be addressed is to improve how we plan for and conduct operations. In the
operational theatres where NATO is engaged, military means alone will not
provide long-term solutions.
Therefore Allies must adopt a coordinated and
integrated approach to operations. Based on experiences from Afghanistan, there are three important steps that should be pursued.
Firstly, Allies must coordinate our civilian efforts in
a better way. Today the civilian aspects of our engagements, e.g. in Afghanistan, is often fragmented and uncoordinated. This means
that the overall effect is less than the synergetic potential we could yield if
Allies coordinated their efforts in a better way. The Norwegian foreign
minister raised this issue during the last NATO ministers meeting in New York. Norway will play an active part in providing the right
impetus and leverage to bring this highly important issue forward.
Secondly, we need more coordination between civilian and military efforts.
Reconstruction and development can not take place without the necessary degree
of security. Our military security operations are in vain if reconstruction and
development does not follow suit. In order to achieve what we are trying to do,
development, humanitarian assistance and political efforts must be seen in
conjunction and harmony with the military effort. An overarching policy that captures this
mutual dependency should form the basis for NATO’s operations. Agreement on
such a policy should be a deliverable for the Riga Summit.
Thirdly, NATO must coordinate better with other actors
involved in areas where our forces operate. We must develop better cooperative
arrangements with the UN, the EU, the World Bank and NGO’s. Visiting Afghanistan myself, and addressing our troops, it is clear to me that
they on a daily basis frequently liaise and cooperate with NGOs and
UN-personnel. To me it’s a great paradox that we can not have a dialogue at the
strategic, institutional level. In particular we should be more focused on how
NATO better can support and cooperate with the UN.
Other organizations, such as the UN and EU, are
currently developing policies for civilian-military interface and concepts for
integrated missions and operations. The time has come for NATO to do the same. The
initiative on Concerted Planning and Action (CPA) is a comprehensive, yet
concrete concept that underlines the armed forces’ role as a facilitator
for reconstruction and development.
NATO must make progress in further developing and
putting into effect the CPA concept. In my view, the key to success in Afghanistan depends on it. I would therefore like to see the CPA formally
approved at the Riga Summit by the Heads of State and Government.
In
conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen – “Meeting Global Security
Challenges” is the overarching and very comprehensive theme for our conference.
I believe NATO has come a long way in adapting to new security challenges.
However, in order to stay relevant for the 21st century, we need to
continue to improve. The political dimension of NATO, including political
consultations and dialogue, must be enhanced. And, we need to improve our
performance in peace and stability operations. These two factors will determine
whether NATO will play the prominent role in the 21st century as it
did in the 20th century.
