14 October 1997
(Forum to promote NATO, strong U.S.-European ties) (1140) By Rick Marshall USIA Staff Writer Washington -- The New Atlantic Initiative (NAI), in association with the European Forum Alpbach, will hold a special conference on the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization October 17-20 in Alpbach, Austria. The purpose of the conference, according to Jeff Gedmin, executive director of the NAI's Washington office, is to bring together Americans and Europeans from the private sector, the media, academia, and non-governmental organizations to expand the debate about NATO enlargement and the benefits of the trans-Atlantic relationship. Titled "Enlarging NATO: The Political, Economic and Cultural Dimensions," Alpbach will feature roundtable sessions on the ratification process, NATO-Russian relations, NATO-Bosnian policy, and the membership of possible future members. Besides Gedmin, another key participant at Alpbach will be Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute, who works with NAI on NATO matters and is well-known for his work on trans-Atlantic issues. Muravchik sees the conference focusing on two primary goals. The first is identifying what needs to be done so that the parliaments of the 16 NATO nations and three new members -- Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic -- chosen to begin accession talks at the July summit in Madrid will ratify the necessary changes to the Washington Treaty. Although this is ultimately expected to happen, a number of potential problems have already surfaced. Some U.S. senators, for example, are concerned about the cost of enlargement and have expressed doubts that the Europeans will shoulder a fair share of the burden. Others, such as Senator Joseph Biden, a key member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, fear that events in Bosnia could undermine support for adding new members. In her statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 8, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expressed confidence that the Senate would ratify the changes to the Washington Treaty. "I believe that when the time comes for the Senate to decide, Mr. Chairman (Senator Jesse Helms), you and I and the American people will stand together," she said. "For I know that the policy we ask you to embrace is a policy that the administration and Congress shaped together, and I am certain that it advances the fundamental interests of the United States." She also stated her opinion that the cost of enlargement would be acceptable and shared equitably among the Allies. "I am convinced that the cost of expansion is real, but affordable," she said. "I am certain our prospective allies are willing and able to pay their share, because in the long run it will be cheaper for them to upgrade their forces within the Alliance that outside it. As Secretary of State, I will insist that our old Allies share this burden fairly. That is what NATO is all about." Albright also stressed how the events of Bosnia have validated NATO's plans to add new members in Central and Eastern Europe. "It was our experience in Bosnia that proved the fundamental premise of our enlargement strategy: There are still threats to peace and security in Europe that only NATO can meet. It was in Bosnia that our prospective allies proved they are ready to take responsibility for the security of others." The other objective of the Alpbach conference, Muravchik says, has a broader significance, and that is to generate a better understanding about NATO's vital role in shaping the post Cold War security environment in Europe. Albright addressed this in her Senate testimony, also. "We need a larger NATO so that the other half of Europe is finally embedded in the same cooperative structure of military planning and preparation" as the Western European allies," she said. "Let us not deceive ourselves. The United States is a European power. We have an interest not only in the lands west of the Oder River, but in the fate of the 200 million people who live in the nations between the Baltic and Black Seas. We waged the Cold War in part because these nations were held captive. We fought World War II in part because these nations had been invaded. "Now that these nations are free, we want them to succeed, and we want them to be safe," the secretary continued. "If there were a major threat to the security of their region, if we were to wake up one morning to the sight of cities being shelled and borders being overrun, I am certain that we would choose to act, enlargement or no enlargement. Expanding NATO now is simply the surest way to prevent that kind of threat from arising, and thus we need to make that kind of choice." Adds Muravchik: "I don't see NATO enlargement as simply something to enhance the security of the three (new) states, but rather a decision that NATO will be the central institution of a no-longer divided Europe." "It's been eight years since the Berlin Wall came down and yet we're still in this transition," he says. "If NATO does not expand, if it remains a kind of exclusive club; it will decrease in its importance in Europe." Marginalizing an institution of such importance to both sides of the Atlantic will be clearly dangerous, he states. "We have learned that Europe is not stable without the United States being deeply involved in it ... Europe needs the United States, just as the United States needs Europe." For his part Gedmin points to the historic, cultural, and political ties which give special significance to the trans-Atlantic relationship. The New Atlantic Initiative is in no way opposed to any region of the world, he says. It is, however, pro-Europe and strongly favors a major U.S. presence in European affairs. Indeed, he says, a united West can face the challenges of the future better than either Europe or the United States can do alone. The NAI was founded about three years ago, largely on the initiative of John O'Sullivan, an aide to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Its first major supporters were Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel, Thatcher, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, former Polish finance minister Leszek Balcerowicz, and former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schultz. Since then the NAI has garnered support for trans-Atlantic issues in both Europe and the United States. In early September it issued a statement backing NATO enlargement endorsed by 133 prominent European and American statesman and scholars. The European Forum Alpbach holds annual conferences at which matters of international significance are discussed on an interdisciplinary basis, including political, economic, cultural, ethical, and other disciplines. Past conferences have been attended by philosophers, economists, natural and medical scientists, theologians, bankers, political writers, historians, sociologists, politicians, and artists.