ACCESSION NUMBER:272701
FILE ID:EUR307
DATE:03/17/93
TITLE:NORWEGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ENDORSES EXPANDED NATO ROLE (03/17/93)
TEXT:*93031707.EUR
*EUR307   03/17/93 *

NORWEGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ENDORSES EXPANDED NATO ROLE
(Says alliance serves many needs)  (380)
By David Pitts
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- NATO has been an "extremely successful alliance" to date,
but will have to "expand its roles, missions, and functions" to be viable
in the future, Norwegian Defense Minister Johan Jorgen Holst, said March
17.

1peaking at the National Press Club, Holst said he believed the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) could play a major role in peacemaking
and peacekeeping in Europe.  For example, he endorsed the role that NATO
might be called on to play in enforcing a Bosnian peace settlement, should
that occur.  But he made it clear that this should take place "only on the
basis of a U.N. mandate" and that other non-NATO powers, such as Russia,
should preferably be involved.  NATO would be "a subcontractor" to the
U.N., he added.

Holst gave a number of reasons why NATO is still needed:
-- Because "it provides a framework for continued American engagement and
leadership in Europe."  He said this is necessary "for European
construction to succeed."

-- To "preserve a zone of stability in an increasingly turbulent Europe."
-- To "block resurgence of one or more hegemonic powers."
-- To "prevent renationalization of defense in Europe at a time when
nationalism is on the rise.  Collective defense is an alternative."

-- To "provide reassurance to the fragile democracies emerging in Eastern
Europe" that "might be worried" about the intentions of the West.

-- To provide a framework "for developing partner relationships with former
adversaries" like Russia.

Holst said he is confident that the United States "remains committed to the
Atlantic Alliance."  Asked whether the United States has a responsibility
to help solve the Yugoslav problem, along with Europe, Holst said he
believed that it did, that Europeans and Americans "have a shared
responsibility" to deal with the conflict there.  He rejected the idea that
the crisis in the former Yugoslavia is a European problem that should be
solved by Europeans.

On the subject of war crimes trials, Holst said he fully endorses the
decision to go ahead, that there must be prosecutions of those responsible
for atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.

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