ACCESSION NUMBER:313511
FILE ID:EUR507
DATE:11/19/93
TITLE:CZECH REPUBLIC REALIZES NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL TAKE TIME (11/19/93)
TEXT:*93111907.EUR
*EUR507   11/19/93 *

CZECH REPUBLIC REALIZES NATO MEMBERSHIP WILL TAKE TIME
(Czech Defense Minister Baudys at Atlantic Council)  (420)
By Jim Shevis
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- Czech Defense Minister Antonin Baudys says his country would
like to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but realizes
that integration into the Alliance is "a long-erm, step-by-step process."

"It is clear to us that absorption of post-communist countries into NATO is
not possible in a short time," Baudys told the Atlantic Council of the
United States November 19.

"We understand well that the existing NATO structure does not allow for any
near-term enlargement," he said.

The Atlantic Council is a Washington public-policy center that concerns
1tself chiefly with U.S security interests.

Baudys said that since the Czech Republic's founding last January, the
government has consistently viewed its future security within the NATO
framework.

He said his government considers U.S. Defense Secretary Les Aspin's
"Partnership for Peace" proposal "a feasible concept and a very appropriate
first step toward a closer official relationship" within an integrated
European defense system.

"If Secretary Aspin's proposal is accepted at the January summit of NATO as
it was originally stated, the Czech Republic stands ready to put this
concept into practice," said Baudys.

Aspin's plan -- unveiled at a meeting of Alliance defense ministers in
Travemuende, Germany, on October 20 -- calls for NATO to sign a series of
bilateral agreements for limited military cooperation with the former
Warsaw Pact nations.

Baudys, who was appointed defense minister last January, said that any plan
for the Czech Republic to become part of a buffer, or "safety," zone
between East and West is "unacceptable" to his government.

The Czech official said he sees no "significant" risks for the Czech
Republic today.  But he allowed that, taking into account Europe's
historical conflicts, the probability of danger always exists.

"The feeling of security in a large country such as the United States or
Germany is different than in a small country like the Czech Republic, which
is situated in a particularly delicate region," he said.

Baudys concluded his speech with this thought:
"Today, for the first time since the end of the second world war, with
Germany reunited and the Soviet troops back home, we have before us a
window of opportunity to strengthen our Euroatlantic partnership.

"This opportunity may never come again.  We must not pass it up.  We must
not repeat the mistakes of the recent past."

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