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EFFECTIVE DEFENCE ONLY IN A SYSTEM OF COLLECTIVE DEFENCE AND SECURITY
Statement by the President of the Republic following talks with NATO's
Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Ralston
Ljubljana, 11 April 2002
In talks held with General Ralston the President of the Republic underlined, inter alia, that after a few years of wandering about Slovenia now has a finalised concept for the Slovenian Army and that the implementation of that concept is in the right hands. The President also informed his interlocutor of the current discussions regarding the time frame for the professionalisation of the SA and for discontinuing the conscription system, as well as of the debate on NATO membership. The President gave a statement after the talks.
I had a very useful discussion today with General Ralston and his colleagues regarding the security situation in Europe and the world, as well as the role and the position of Slovenia in that world. Among other issues General Ralston commended Slovenia and the Slovenian Army, particularly for their participation in peacekeeping operations in the Balkans.
Today's meeting with General Ralston once again convinced me personally and as President of this country that Slovenia's place in terms of ensuring security - the fundamental strategic interest and task of any country – is in the North Atlantic alliance and that the members of that alliance wish to see Slovenia in their midst.
The General and I shared the opinion that modern security issues cannot be looked upon from a static perspective, using the criteria of yesteryear and of the already overcome political relations in the world. Today's world is a global one and, unfortunately, that world also knows global threats to peace and security. Nowadays it is not only classical war and classical military aggression that pose a threat to peace. Peace and security are increasingly under threat from international terrorism, international organised crime of all sorts, they are threatened by environmental disasters and man's irresponsible dealing with nature, they are threatened by modern nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, they are also threatened by irresponsible and uncontrolled biomedical experiments.
Our world is also growing increasingly interconnected and thus increasingly interdependent. Peace and security today can no longer be defended merely on the borders of one's country. The dangers of the these modern threats to peace and security are something no country can face up to on its own today, not even the mightiest of countries. On top of it all these threats neither know nor recognise neutrality.
Today it is only a system of collective defence within a system of collective security that provides effective defence. One cannot expect, however, that others would defend your peace and your security in such a system while you yourself are not prepared to do anything for their defence and for common security. The responsibility and the burden of one's own security and one's own peace cannot be shifted unto others. National egotisms and collective defence systems simply walk go hand in hand. Individual defence, however, if it at all possible, is not effective. It is also much more expensive than active participation in a system of collective defence.
The system of collective defence is based on a world of values that has made coexistence in the entire Euro-Atlantic area possible for a long time. It is on the values of the Euro-Atlantic civilisation - to which we Slovenes belong as well - that both NATO and the European Union are based. The very intensive present discussions on European Union enlargement, the debate on the need to also enhance its foreign policy, security and defence functions are in their very gist discussions about the future and the fate of NATO as well.
Speaking on behalf of Slovenian politics, we have a duty to clarify all these issues to our citizens who are demonstrating great interest in Slovenia's NATO membership, as well as to those citizens who might have perfectly legitimate qualms in that regard. It was with pleasure that I informed General Ralston of the great interest these issues generate among our citizens, that they are not willing to merely adopt an emotional position in favour or against membership, but that they want a well-argued debate instead. General Ralston's participation in that debate is most welcome, as is the participation of other representatives of NATO's political and military leadership, of NATO's member states, which have experience with life in the alliance.
Also, I told the General that I firmly believe that once the debate in Slovenia is over, a sober, rational and well-argued position on Slovenia's participation in the Euro-Atlantic alliance would prevail over emotions and ideology.
Thank you.
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