A NEED FOR A WIDE INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE
At the Sofia Summit 2001

Sofia (Bulgaria), 5 October 2001




President Stoyanov, Presidents,
Secretary-General of NATO, Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I begin by thanking our host, President Stoyanov, for the invitation and opportunity to exchange views on our common future actions.

Our meeting is taking place in an entirely different international situation than planned. Black Tuesday in New York and Washington saw an attack on the foundations upon which mankind is building the global civilisation of the new millennium.

There is no excuse for this criminal act. Terrorism cannot be tolerated. And it is not enough merely to condemn it. It is our duty to oppose it with deliberation and resolve. If we fail to do this, violence in society will escalate out of control.

In these tragic times a sincere humane political and functional solidarity with the United States and its citizens is imperative. It must be expressed through concrete means and acts as part of joint activities. Slovenia is more than willing and able to participate and to assume its share of responsibility.

We must put a stop to the violence – violence that could jeopardise the values that mankind has developed and asserted throughout its history as criteria for the coexistence of people in order to create and develop tolerance in human society.

This terrorist act was an act against democracy. The fight against terrorism is the fight for democracy and for freedom of the individual; it is a fight for human dignity, human rights, security. The means dictated by the need for the fight against this evil to be effective must enhance democracy, protect the freedom of the individual and of nations, solidarity and the rule of law for all people. They must be used against perpetrators and organisers of terrorist acts, against the regimes and the political or ideological groups that support or initiate terrorism and bring chaos, slaughter and insanity.

The fight against international terrorism requires uniform and concerted operation and action by democratic states. Terrorism must feel that it is faced with an impenetrable wall of opposition and that there is no state that permits, enables, harbours, encourages or uses it.

A wide international alliance is necessary. Since all cultures and wide spread religions respect the dignity of man and of life, such an alliance is possible. The killing of innocent people is a crime throughout the world.

An alliance is necessary in the fight for the culture of the world and for the values that will prevail in the future.

Instigators and perpetrators of political terrorism, genocide and other forms of violence belong before the courts. Politicians must responsibly consider how to find a way out of the political crisis to which terrorism draws attention, and how to establish a new political balance in the world.

What is needed is global political responsibility and governance. Democracy is threatened. In order to protect it, we must establish it as global democracy.

The global governance of the world requires appropriate security and political mechanisms. In Europe these are chiefly NATO and the EU. While our continent is still divided into several Europes, as continues to be the case even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there are still no sufficient political conditions for creating a united, democratic and undivided Europe that will be one of the central foundations of peace, prosperity, solidarity and stability in the world.

The terrorist attack against the United States urgently demands consolidation of Euro-Atlantic security. This is one further reason for the courageous enlargement of NATO.

Slovenia gained independence in order to become part of a safe and democratic world sharing a common system of values, and to help consolidate it. Slovenia enshrined this among its priorities at its very birth. It is therefore firmly resolved to meet the required criteria for Nato membership painstakingly and with full responsibility. Slovenia has adopted a demanding but realistic mambership Action Plan, and is implementing it – for its own sake and for the sake of its responsibility to strengthen joint defence of the world of freedom.

I am confident that Slovenia's efforts will be identified and recognised.