SLOVENIA'S PLACE IS IN NATO AND THE EU
Session of the National Assembly on the proposal for a consultative referendum on Slovenia's accession to NATO

Ljubljana, 22 May 2002


Distinguished Speaker of the National Assembly,
Distinguished Members of Parliament,

It is with pleasure that I responded to the Speaker's invitation to attend today's session of the National Assembly. I deem today's debate on Slovenia's accession to the Euro-Atlantic alliance and on the referendum to be of utmost importance. I should also like to inform the National Assembly of my own position on Slovenia's NATO membership and on the referendum bout this significant act for the future of our country. I already spoke of this in this very hall at the public hearing on Slovenia's NATO accession on 16 January this year.

Let me therefore reiterate once again: I firmly believe that our accession to NATO and the European Union represents the only suitable and beneficial choice in the current situation so as to ensure a safe and successful future for Slovenia, for its national identity, for its stable position in the international community, for its openness to global material and spiritual currents, for its active participation in world affairs, for it to take on its own share of the responsibility for the situation in the world and for its future. Simply put, in order for us to live safely and to create in peace.

One could argue that this is the best of poor choices. Yet there are no ideal choices, this world is not ideal. It is not made to the measure of our own desires. The world's economy, capital and information are globalised, but at the same time this world is divided and full of contradiction. The world has seen us off into the third millennium with all the dilemmas and all the great questions of the past century without us having answers to them. We are now seeking these answers, each of us on our own and all of us together for the whole of humanity. Good, reliable answers cannot be found if we search for them without keeping in mind the true image of Europe and of the world, and of their possible future. The world is highly interconnected and interdependent, for better and unfortunately also for worse. Harbouring an illusion of an isolated safe and peaceful island in the midst of a tempestuous world would be irresponsible towards our citizens, their peace and their security. Assuring peace and security, ensuring a safe life and the creation of prosperity in peace with an adequate national defence is the fundamental duty of those governing any democratic country. They have an obligation to know and understand the world and to present to the citizens their view of the world and their actions justified in such a world, creating alliances and generating support with the citizens for such actions.

The world today is divided. On the one hand are people, social groups, nations and states – including Slovenia – that are already living their future in this world, while on the other hand there are people, social groups, nations, states, almost whole continents brushed to the social, economic and technological margins without a chance to participate in humanity's accumulation of wealth and knowledge, without opportunity and with an uncertain future. Such a situation that will not change on its own offers fertile ground to radical acts of despair, to fundamentalisms, to terrorism and to all sorts of organised crime. People are not prepared to accept life on the margins and they resist such fate.

The world is stretched between peace and the threat of never-ending conflict. In their essence these are not clashes between cultures, faiths, civilisations, but struggles for survival, for the right to one's own way of life and to a future. They are also an opportunity for the expansion of ideological populism, xenophobia and racism, as well as purely criminal intentions where villains can get their hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, causing humanitarian and environmental disasters of global dimensions. These clashes are local or regional only at first glance. In truth they sooner or later concern the whole world. Including ourselves. Nothing only happens to one of us anymore. The whole world is so closely knit that the fate of one has become the fate of all. The Balkans, Afghanistan, the Middle East and other regions of instability have become our own problem as well. Illegal migrations, trafficking of drugs, arms, people and human organs are also our problem. All of this influences our own security indirectly and even directly.

The Euro-Atlantic area is becoming a single economic and political area, an area of shared values with all the differences that have emerged with time. These differences, including us Slovenes, maintain their identity while seeking ways of speaking a common language in discussing the issues of our common future, of the vital issues our world is facing, in order for Europe to play an active and responsible role of one of the centres of development of human civilisation in the global dialogue, in order for Europe to affirm itself in this dialogue as a specific political, social and spiritual entity. Europe can base that ambition on its experience and on its positive achievements at the turn of the century. It is becoming an area that, in spite of all its historical and other loggerheads, is successfully preserving peace, encouraging equal and fruitful relations between states, dispelling the consequences of past political divisions, creating a common economic area, developing 21st century technologies, raising the standard of living, and having a future. Russia, with all its specificities and challenges, is now also entering this area with decisive steps. But those who fail to take their share of the responsibility for this area cannot take part in the many advantages it brings.

NATO and the European Union are complementary organisations in this area, aimed at reaffirming such a role for Europe also by fostering its defence and security. Every new security dimension of the European union, ranging from foreign policy, to policing and the military, is and will always remain part of the Euro-Atlantic defence and security policy. When the European Union will relieve North America of its responsibility for a safe and peaceful Europe, a load that Europe had placed on North America's shoulders several times in the past century through its irresponsible actions, through war, only then will it become an increasingly strong European pillar of the Euro-Atlantic alliance. That is why the choice is not either the European Union or NATO. Somewhere in the future there certainly is more than just a purely formal point of contact between the two. But we are making our decision now. Our choice is therefore both the EU and NATO, otherwise we would be sealing ourselves off at the edge of an unstable region, living in an imaginary world of peace and illusions of no threat. We are deciding this in order to protect the life and dignity of every human being the best we can, to protect their freedom of belonging to a national, religious or any other community, to protect the right to difference, tolerance and solidarity, openness towards others and towards the different, it is a decision in favour of legal and social security, of a free market. This can serve as the common denominator of the values that can be accepted and protected by all of humanity and all its great civilisations. They can form the value foundation of a common ethic required for contemporary global governance and for equal and responsible relations in the international community. In essence these are the values for whose sake the ideas of a European economic community and the strengthening of the Euro-Atlantic alliance were born decades ago on the ruins of World War II and with the awareness of the dangers of the Cold War.
Taking all this into account I support Slovenia's accession to the European Union and NATO. They are a good and safe place for our country. But with all the benefits of life under their wing, our membership also brings responsibilities.

Distinguished Members of the National Assembly,
What is it then that we are deciding on with the decision on Slovenia's NATO membership. We are deciding on peace. We are opting for an active role in the Euro-Atlantic alliance for the sake of peace. Not war. We do not want war. NATO today is not preparing for conquests around the world's battlefields, but for ensuring peace and security for all those nations and states that subscribe to the common fundamental values that allow for humanity's tolerant and peaceful coexistence. NATO has changed and it continues to change. It is adjusting to the new situation in the world. It is no longer a menacing fist but a hand extended in cooperation for the defence of these common values. There can be no more doubt about that after the recently concluded agreements on special forms of NATO-Russia cooperation.

I was among those who had to bear the burden of the decision of whether we would respond with arms to the war forced on us by the Yugoslav Army in 1991 in order to defend our plebiscite decision for an independent Slovenia. I was among those who later negotiated for peace. I do not wish it on anyone, on any member of a future generation of Slovenes, to have to ever find themselves in a position where hey have to decide on war or peace.

It is well known that the path to peace is a long one and that the longest path to peace leads through war. That is why we must now do everything to prevent war, to prevent our security and peace from being threatened again. That is what we are deciding on when deciding on NATO membership. The NATO of today is no longer the NATO of the Cold War and the NATO of military and political confrontation. The Cold War is no more. The world no longer lives in a state of Cold War. Nor do we Slovenes. Our peace and security are under threat from other dangers. Dangers that do not take into account national borders, do not respect international rules, do not acknowledge the neutrality of states. These and other facts compel us to think of how we can successfully defend ourselves from these dangers threatening global security and peace, thus also life on this planet in general.

Today, effective defence is only ensured by a system of collective defence within a system of collective security. That system is based on the conviction that peace is indivisible. Within such a system one cannot expect others to defend our peace and our security while we ourselves would not be prepared to do anything for their defence and for common security. The responsibility and the burden of one's own security cannot be passed on to others. National egotism is not compatible with collective defence. Solidarity is. Solidarity is the fundamental principle of an alliance. Individual defence against modern threats is not effective, if at all possible. In addition it is also much more expensive than active participation in collective defence and in the alliance.

Now that we are deciding on NATO membership we are deciding on alliances. Our experience also shows that we Slovenes have successfully safeguarded our freedom and our existence when fighting within democratic alliances. That was the case with the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire, that was the case in World War II, that was the case in the struggle for an independent Slovenia and that is the case today in our endeavours for the preservation of peace in the Balkans and for eradicating international terrorism. I already stated that we are opting for NATO for the sake of peace, in order to provide for our peace and security. That is why it is good to know that should anyone in the future be tempted to threaten our peace and security or try to settle any old scores with us, they would have to count on Slovenia being a part of the democratic Euro-Atlantic alliance, that they would have to deal with the whole alliance and not just the relatively small and vulnerable Slovenia. All these are the benefits that NATO membership brings, if benefits are what we're discussing.

I am familiar with the objection that by joining NATO Slovenia is exposing itself to the danger of becoming a target of international terrorism. As if it weren't already and as if drug trafficking, taking our children as victims, were not already spilling over into Slovenia along with other waves of international organised crime. And as if we had forgotten where our Slovenian people have defended peace and the fundamental values of democracy when these were under threat. They defended them on the battlegrounds of World War II all around Europe in military units of the national liberation army established by Slovenes that were forcibly mobilised by occupation forces and who later escaped into voluntary captivity. They fought as part of the allied forces against the occupation forces of their homeland. Slovenes fought in Overseas Brigades established in the former Soviet Union, they fought in allied uniforms, ending the war on Slovene territory and liberating our lands. Not to mention all the far away places that the Poles, Czechs, Americans, Russians, the British, the French and other allies fought in before nazism and fascism were broken. It was our own and our common freedom and democracy that were being defended on all fronts by the allies back then. We must do everything in our power to prevent that from happening again.

The decision on Slovenia's NATO accession is justifiably perceived as very important by many of our citizens and they wish to be involved. The debate to date has been very useful in that respect. It also shows that part of our citizenry has doubts as to whether Slovenia should join NATO at all and there are quite some reservations as to the arguments in favour of our membership presented thus far. That is why thorough, clear, precise and responsible explanation on the part of those responsible for the defence, security and the future of our country will still be required. Rightly so. Democracy is not just the right to cast a vote at democratic elections. It is also the right to partake in important decisions. It is therefore also the right to discuss all the important issues concerning the state without ideologically or even personally branding the questions or opinions that are voiced. Democracy is also a culture. People have the right to think otherwise. We have an obligation to listen, to answer every argument with a counter-argument. We have an obligation to strive for people's confidence and for an alliance with them. Just like with the plebiscite in 1990 and during the war for Slovenia and during the peace talks. Back then the support of every single person was invaluable. It is equally so today.