Sunday 25 May, in an address to the Defence and
Security Committee meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin’s
Reichstag, Daniel Fata, US Deputy Secretary Assistant of Defence for European
and NATO Policy, said that the time has come to cement the gains from the
Bucharest summit and noted the important role that members of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly can play in building parliamentary and public support to
NATO.
The Bucharest summit produced a number of important gains
according to Mr Fata. The Alliance reaffirmed its commitment to success in
Afghanistan, moved forward toward producing a new Strategic Concept to guide the
Alliance, and took important decisions on enlargement. There was also
significant progress on achieving consensus with regard to the desirability and
feasibility of missile defence systems in Europe.
Mr Fata
underlined, however, that NATO members will not be able to reach their goals
without a renewed financial commitment. He recommended an Alliance-wide
increase in defence spending of 0.2 % of GDP and an increase in the percentage
of deployable forces. Given the importance of finance ministers in budgetary
decisions, he suggested that a periodic meeting of member state finance
ministers should be held at NATO to underscore the importance of bringing
defence spending in line with security priorities.
Regarding NATO’s
relationship with Georgia and Ukraine, Mr Fata stated that they qualify for the
Membership Action Plan (MAP). He noted a degree of frustration in those two
aspirant members about not being offered a MAP in Bucharest, but underlined that
NATO is committed to bring them onto a path for eventual membership if they
continue to make progress on their reform commitments. Mr Fata affirmed that
there is no reason that the conflicts in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia should prevent the continued development of Georgia’s relationship
with NATO noting that “nothing says that frozen conflicts prevent the granting
of MAP.
Speaking specifically about the NATO mission in
Afghanistan, Mr Fata welcomed the decision of France to deploy additional forces
to eastern Afghanistan, but noted the lack of critical capabilities in theater
that hindered the mission. In particular, he stated that more helicopters
are needed to meet operational demands. He praised the training mission
for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) and noted
that ANA units were taking the lead in major operations against insurgents in
southern Afghanistan. The appointment of a UN representative in
Afghanistan, Kai Eide to bring unity of efforts of the international community
on the civilian side and work closely with NATO’s International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF), the EU and individual nations, will improve military
and civil cooperation. Mr Fata insisted on the need of giving Mr Eide the
necessary resources that would make the difference.
In his final
point, Mr Fata said that parliamentarians have an important role to play in
educating the public and their colleagues on the NATO mission in Afghanistan and
the need to give the Alliance the capabilities it needs to pursue the common
security agenda. He welcomed the input of parliamentarians to the Atlantic
Charter and the Strategic Concept, documents to be drafted over the next two
years that will guide the Alliance in the future.
The NATO PA,
bringing together some 248 parliamentarians from 26 NATO member states,
delegates from 16 associate countries, two Mediterranean associate countries,
the European Parliament and parliamentary observers from several other
countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, will meet for five days in Berlin
in the Reichstag building, until May 27.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is an
interparliamentary organization, independent from NATO, which provides a link
between NATO and the parliaments of its member countries. The Assembly
also brings together legislators from NATO member and non-member countries to
consider security-related issues of common interest and
concern.
NATO PA PRESS SERVICE, BERLIN Roberta
Calorio Media Relations Officer Mobile: + 49 173 6381
399