Foredrag i Oslo Militære Samfund
5. mars 2001
FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY
OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Andrej F. Sokolik
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentionary.
Embassy of the Slovak Republic
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor and privilege for me to have the opportunity to address this
distinguished audience. I am very delighted to be here today presenting the
foreign and security policy of the Slovak Republic. As you can see I have
modified a little the title of the lecture, because we are building our security
policy as we are sure we do not have any enemies in the Europe any more.
Issues of international relations and foreign policy, including security, is a
complicated and multifaceted area involving many factors at various levels of
analysis. As far as I know, this is the first lecture of Slovak Ambassador,
anyway I am the first Ambassador of the Slovak Republic appointed to the Kingdom
of Norway since December 1999. So I am the first diplomat from Slovakia who has
the privilege to deliver lecture to distinguished audience of the Oslo Military
Society. Therefore, first I would evaluate development, both international and
domestic in Slovakia, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which marked the end of
one era and, the beginning of a new, different one. Recalling the changes that
happened since that historical turning point is an important backdrop for
understanding priorities of Slovak foreign and security policy, a presentation
of which will follow that general introduction.
Let me present you the map of Europe and where Slovakia is situated in the region and the basic data about my country.
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AREA: |
49 035 km2. |
The dramatic events that were taking place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989
- 1990 brought about momentous changes in both, domestic and international
dimensions. Domestically, nations of Central and Eastern Europe got rid off
communism and embarked upon quite an unknown journey, undertaking an
unprecedented multiple transition. The end of that journey was only loosely
defined as democracy and market economy. There are many models of both democracy
as well as market economy in social theory as well as in practice. And the
nations of the region engaged in the experiment were also taking with them their
own unique historical and cultural luggage. So, the outcome of the endeavor of
each of these countries could have been only guessed at that time. On the
international plane, the collapse of communist regimes was matched by deep
tectonic shifts in the international order: the end of the Cold War, and the end
of bipolarity that characterized it. It is true that the Cold War was a
remarkably stable era in European and world history. Though it must be pointed
out that this stability was at the expense of peoples in Central and Eastern
Europe and their freedoms. The dramatic events of 1989-1990 brought this era
which some have called also a „long peace" to a close. What would replace
this „long peace" was not certain.
For comparison, consider previous windows of opportunity in the 20th century.
The victory of the Western democratic powers in 1918 and the collapse of the
empires that had long dominated Central Europe and the Balkans created a
historic opportunity for founding of independent democratic states. The new
states in Central and Southern Europe, and Czechoslovakia among them, indeed
adopted democratic constitutions and designed their institutions on the Western
model. But this experiment in Western-style democracy was short-lived, already
in the following decade democracy gave way to authoritarian and corrupt regimes.
Czechoslovakia was, in fact, the only exception to the rule of that time,
remaining the only „isle of democracy" in Central and Eastern Europe, and
indeed also one of the few in Europe as a whole. Of course, the causes of such a
development were manifold, but the overall international environment in Europe
was central: it was simply not conductive to efforts at fostering democracy.
Another chance appeared few decades later with the end of the Second World War
which gave rise to hopes of creating a new post-war order. But the international
context was not better: despite promises to allow free and fair elections in
liberated countries, the Stalinist Soviet Union had other plans. Carefully
staged communist take-overs took place in countries liberated by the Red Army,
the Cold War started dividing Europe for long decades into a geopolitical West
and East. I would like to add a few words about "Prague spring" during
1968 - 1969. This process was unsuccessful because of no help from Western
Europe. The result was occupation by Soviet army and much stronger restrictions
afterwards by communist regime.
With the fall of communism over ten years ago, yet another chance occurred in
Europe. But this time, the international context has been favourable to the
strife of democratising nations.
The Western part of Europe is consolidated, stable, democratic, and prosperous.
And moreover, there is a myriad of international institutions, which make their
member states closely intertwined and their interests convergent. Most
importantly, there are two institutional pillars of European and transatlantic
political landscape: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and the
European Union (EU). Those two organisations play an important role of a
„behaviour check" of new democracies.
In Czechoslovakia, the big tasks of transition, which lay ahead in 1989 -1990,
and which had to be dealt with almost simultaneously were many, but they fall
basically into three broad groups, which is why some observers have come to call
it a „triple transition": first, creating new political institutions;
second, building a market economy; third, forging a new cultural identity with
new ties and bonds, and new ethnic and national definitions. If I take just the
first point, transforming, or creating political institutions anew, meant not
only „rewriting" the constitution - which in itself is not an easy task -
but also implementing this new constitution into an everyday life. In case of
Czecho-Slovakia, it meant moreover transforming a „federalized totality"
(to use Václav Havel's term) into a genuine federation, to define anew the
powers of, and relationship between the Czech and Slovak Republics and the
federation.
In this connection, the Czechoslovakia split has to be mentioned. When President
Havel came up in early 1990 with the proposal to change the name of our republic
form Czechoslovak Socialist to simply Czechoslovak, he certainly didn't want to
unleash a long constitutional crisis. But one thing is sure: the period at the
beginning of a transformation from a totalitarian to democratic regime
characterized by a fragile political scene was not the right backdrop for a
thorough re-negotiation of the Czecho-Slovak federation. To create „a more
perfect union" is never an easy task, and the Czecho-Slovak split still
waits for a thorough assessment. However, one fact remains clear, as someone has
written, „Czecho-Slovakia came apart under the tremendous strain of *a triple
transition* ".
So, in January 1993, there it was: Slovakia in its „year zero". The start
was accompanied by many difficulties. Soon, misgivings about Slovak democracy,
political and economic stability, and future development started to be voiced,
at home and abroad. Indeed, since 1993 Slovakia has had its ups and downs.
Fareed Zakaria pointed out the rise of which it has had an experience with a
kind of "illiberal democracy" in his famous article ("The rise of
Illiberal Democracies" in Foreign Affairs, Vol. 76, No.6; November/December
1997). This kind of internal Slovak development was inevitably reflected in
relations of the country with „the rest of the world". It influences
their perception of the country as stable and reliable, or as the opposite.
Slovakia learned its painful lessons about this connection between internal and
international levels, between domestic and foreign policies. It meant that
despite formulating foreign policy priorities such as the OECD, EU and NATO
memberships, these priorities were simply neither reasonable, nor attainable due
to domestic policies. Slovakia was excluded, or better to say, it had gradually
excluded itself from the European and the transatlantic integration processes:
in 1997 at the NATO Madrid summit Slovakia, unlike its partners from Visegrad
group - Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia - V4, was not invited to
begin talks on NATO membership; then in December 1997 at the EU summit in
Luxembourg, Slovakia was not invited to begin accession negotiations with the
union, again unlike the V4 partners. The reason in both cases was the same:
Slovakia did not fulfil political criteria of these institutions.
The general elections held in autumn 1998 meant a key turning point for Slovakia
which since then corrected the previous „democratic deficit". As a
result, its position on the international stage has changed as well. We started
accession negotiations with the EU, became a member of the OECD (autumn 2000),
and are considered a hot candidate for the next round of the NATO enlargement.
Slovakia has also revitalised co-operation in the Central European region. In
short, it is a country that can be counted on. Therefore, although Slovakia is
indeed only a small country with many ethnic groups, it does not regard itself
as a completely powerless object of world and European developments. On the
contrary, Slovakia is aware that it has its share of responsibility for what is
happening beyond its frontiers.
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Railroads: |
3,662 km (Double-tracked: 1,011 km, |
Ethnic structure of the Slovak Republic:
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Slovak: |
85,6 % |
Hungarian: |
10,5 % |
For Slovakia, its national interest as broadly defined earlier (ensuring security and prosperity) means above all attaining the membership in NATO and the EU. These two central institutional pillars of the Euro-Atlantic landscape, our membership in them, represent the only realistic way of ensuring our security and prosperity. These priorities are defined in various governmental documents with differing degrees of detail, from the Program Declaration of the Government of the Slovak Republic adopted in 1998, which outlines priorities in general terms, to a very specific yearly Foreign Policy Assessment and Plan which every year in a great detail evaluates how we have proceeded on our way towards fulfilling our priorities, and what shall we do next year in order to fulfill them.
Among these program documents, one has a special place. It is called Foreign Policy Priorities of the Slovak Republic for the Period of 2000 - 2003: Medium-term Concept. It is specific because it is the first medium term concept of Slovak foreign policy, and also because its time-span goes beyond the present government's term of office.
The document was adopted by our Parliament with the support of all main political parties. In this connection I would like to concentrate only on those priorities that are either of the highest importance to us, or that are in some way specific to Slovak Republic: the EU and NATO, Central Europe, and South-Eastern Europe. Relations with our neighbours have nevertheless had a special place in this Central European dimension of our foreign policy. Each has had a special significance to us, but I would mention especially the Czech Republic and Hungary.
With the Czechs, we had shared for over 70 years a common state that disintegrated only recently. Czechs are for us Slovaks like brothers. Now being here for more then one year, I can tell, that our relations are similar to those of Norway and Sweden. And we, as well, have invented a lot of jokes about our bigger brother…As a result, our now independent republics are tight together by a myriad of close links, from the trade to family ones. These facts give to Czecho-Slovak relations undisputedly a very peculiar taste, though at times it was a bitter one. Between 1993-98 the official relations could be characterised as tepid. It was partly due to some problems stemming from the past. The change came in 1998, after the general elections held in both republics which opened a space for more intensive co-operation. Today, the Czecho-Slovak relations are the best and most intensive at all levels and in all dimensions since the „velvet divorce". In May 2000, we finally closed the complicated chapter called „division of the property and assets of the Czecho-Slovak Federation". Czech political representatives and diplomats voice their strong support for our effort to catch up with the V4 partners in the EU and NATO integration processes. Both sides have an interest in keeping the customs union as long as it would be possible, and both sides would prefer avoiding the erection of the Schengen border on the Czecho-Slovak frontier. People from both banks of the border-river Morava still have a vivid interest in what is happening on the other side, they travel hence and forth - still without needing a passport - to do business or visit family and friends.
With the Hungarians to the south, we once used to share a common state as well.
AUSTRO - HUNGARIAN EMPIRE (19TH CENTURY)
Before Czecho-Slovakia was created in 1918, the Slovaks and Hungarians had been
living together alongside other nations for over a thousand years in the
Hungarian Kingdom, Habsburg Empire, and dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy After the
break-up of the latter in the aftermath of the World War I., and establishing of
new states with their borders, millions of ethnic Slovaks and Hungarians found
themselves in a new Hungary and Czecho-Slovakia respectively. Today, ethnic
Hungarians comprise about 10 % of the population of the Slovak Republic, which
makes them one of the largest ethnic minorities, if not the largest one, in the
whole of Europe.
This fact, together with centuries of a common history gives also to the
Hungarian-Slovak relations a special flavour. Since 1993, these relations have
followed a very similar pattern to the Czecho-Slovak ones, going from tepid to
very good, warm, and friendly at present. At their worst, due to lack of
political will and mutual trust, disputes over the most controversial issues
such as policies towards ethnic minorities or the Gabcíkovo-Nagymaros Dam on
the Danube river gathered strongly nationalistic tinge. Nevertheless, like in
the case of Czecho-Slovak relations, also Hungarian-Slovak relations started to
normalise after the 1998 Slovak general elections, and today they are better
than ever. Today, our ethnic Hungarians have their representatives not only in
the parliament but also in the government, including a deputy prime minister for
human rights and minorities. Let me be a little bit poetical, too. We human
beings need bridges, from symbolic moral-ethic bridges, which help us to
overcome our problems as well as concrete ones.
The bridge from Sturovo-town in Slovakia to Ostrihom-town in Hungary, which are
separated only by the Danube River, destroyed by bombs during the WW II, was
badly needed by both countries and now finally is under construction with the
help of EU.
I have already mentioned the Visegrad group, which is an informal grouping, the
aim of which is to increase mutual understanding and facilitate a close people -
to people co-operation. I have to admit that the co-operation of the Nordic
countries is for us an excellent example for closer ties among countries of the
region. The work of the group is not based on institutional structures, the only
permanent V4 structure is the Visegrad Fund established only recently in order
to administer and manage finances for common activities in various areas.
Besides this, the work of the group is based on regular contacts, meetings,
information exchange, and consultations between representatives of member states
at various levels. Simultaneously, the V4 is an important vehicle on our journey
to the EU (for Slovakia to NATO as well), because it facilitates our
co-operation in substantial EU (NATO) matters. It also shows to the outside
world that candidates are capable of mutual support and co-operation instead of
competing among themselves.
Another important vector of our foreign and security policies besides the
Central European one is directed towards South Eastern Europe, particularly the
Western Balkans where the situation represented the major security concern in
Europe in the 90s. Maybe you do not know, but states of former Yugoslavia were
destination of nearly each Slovak family during summers because it is the
shortest access to the sea from Slovakia. So we were for years very familiar
with development of problems there that turned into open conflict. Activities
and involvement of Slovakia in this region has had three distinct dimensions:
military, diplomatic, and civic. In military dimension, Slovakia alongside many
other NATO and PfP (Partnership-for-Peace) countries has taken part in
operations led by the alliance.
During the Kosovo air campaign, Slovakia allowed air and ground transports of
NATO forces through its territory, which considerably simplified the logistic
aspect of the operation. Our forces have participated in the AFOR, SFOR, and
KFOR operations under the NATO leadership, and today are still deployed in
Kosovo. A diplomatic dimension has been represented above all by activities of
the Slovak foreign minister Eduard Kukan, a special envoy of the UN Secretary
General for the Balkans who has done a valuable „behind-the-scenes"
diplomatic work in the region, highly appreciated by the Secretary General and
other world political leaders. The third, civic dimension was of no lesser
importance. Many Slovak NGOs and civic associations became very active in the
Balkans, and especially in Serbia. People from the Slovak NGOs not only took
part in monitoring of elections in various Balkan countries, or in training
their own monitors, but most importantly taught their colleagues from the local
NGOs the techniques, so to say, of activating civil society in their respective
countries. As it turned out in Serbia, this activated civil society was crucial
in change of the Belgrade regime last year. The Slovak NGOs still remain
involved in Serbia and other countries of the Western Balkans, and spread the
field of their activities to other countries that have problems with
democratisation and transition, such as Belarus, but recently also Ukraine.
A good example of a synergy of efforts of the Slovak governmental and
non-governmental institutions to promote change in Serbia was the so called
Bratislava Process. It was a series of five international conferences initiated
and co-organised by our ministry of foreign affairs that took place between July
1999 and July 2000.
These conferences provided a unique forum for a discussion between
representatives of Serbian opposition, political as well as civic, of trade
unions, opposition media, and municipalities on one side, and representatives of
the international community on the other. The aim of the „Bratislava
Process" was to promote partnership, communication, co-operation between
the two sides, to prevent on the side of Serbian opposition and pro-democratic
forces the strengthening of feelings of isolation and exclusion (since it was
the Belgrade regime that was to be isolated), and to explore concrete ways of
assistance to them. Many of those Serbs who participated in the „Bratislava
Process" today sit in the new Serb or Yugoslav government or parliament.
Slovakia is similarly active and engaged in Cyprus where a conflict has been
simmering with a greater or lesser intensity for a long time. Our activities in
Cyprus have been led by our conviction that a considerable part of that problem
is represented by the deep distrust and bias between the Greek and Turkish
Cypriots, and that these biases could be overcome only through mutual contacts
and dialogue. We have, through our embassy in Nicosia, mediated meetings and
talks of the main political parties leaders from the two sides, as well as
meetings and co-operation of Cypriot NGO representatives working in the field of
human rights. A landmark happening that was organised by seven political parties
from both parts of Cyprus and co-ordinated by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic
took place in September last year when over eight thousand ordinary Greek and
Turkish Cypriots visited a cultural festival in Nicosia. This was the greatest
common public gathering of the two sides since the beginning of a Turkish
occupation of the northern part of the island in 1974. Slovak Republic will
continue in such activities on all three levels, political, non-governmental,
and people-to-people contacts. I would like to point out that even Norwegian
authorities involved in the conflict appreciate the role of Slovakia in the
situation in Cyprus.
Whether in the Balkans, or in Cyprus, the Slovak Republic has proved that it is
an active and responsible actor on the European stage. Of course, we have not
been involved in these troubled areas in order to show off. We genuinely feel
our share of responsibility for promoting positive developments beyond our
borders and our Central European region, positive developments that correspond
with, and are conductive to a gradual integration and unification of Europe.
Thus I have proceeded to another level, direction, or dimension of our foreign
and security policy: all-European and Euro-Atlantic. It is Slovakia's highest
priority to join the NATO and EU, the two central institutional pillars of this
area, as I have already pointed out. It is my pleasure to inform this
distinguished audience that our Parliament approved one week ago, after long and
enormous discussion, basic changes in our Constitution. The changes prepared,
from our side, all the constitutional provisions for future membership of
Slovakia in NATO and EU.
Slovakia started accession negotiations with the EU following the decision of
the Helsinki summit in December 1999, so today we are in the second year of
negotiations.
EU + CANDIDATES COUNTRIES
Over that time, we have proceeded considerably in both, negotiations as well as
in substantial preparation of our economy and legislation for the EU membership.
The last Regular Report of the European Commission evaluates Slovakia for the
first time as a functioning market economy. Our strategic aim vis-a-vis the EU
is to join it together with our three partners from the Visegrad group. It would
make sense considering the close ties among our countries. To attain this goal
requires an effort on both sides, on the side of Slovakia as well as the union.
To be able to enlarge, the union has to reform itself, its structures and
procedures. From this point of view, we consider the last EU summit in Nice a
right step in the right direction. On our side, the membership in the EU
requires further efforts at fulfilling membership criteria and conditions. This
year, we would like to open all remaining negotiating chapters. Our goal is to
enter the union on the 1st of January 2004.
Besides these challenges connected with the enlargement, there is one additional
challenge regarding the EU as well as Europe more generally, and that is its
European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
Although in a sense the EU has always been to a great extent also a security
system for Western Europe, it recently stepped up its efforts at playing the
security role in Europe more explicitly and directly. Therefore, a clear
division of labour and a definition of consultations and co-operation mechanisms
between the EU and NATO is very important. In European security architecture,
they should complement each other, avoid duplication and achieve synergy.
Slovakia, as a candidate for a membership in both, watches the EU-NATO dialogue
over these issues with a certain apprehension. We feel that it has bearing also
on the enlargement of both institutions. And after all, what is at stake, is
European security, security for all.
For Slovakia, NATO remains the cornerstone of European security.
NATO COUNTRIES AND SLOVAKIA
As we have seen, Europe after the Cold War has turned out to be less stabilized
and its development less predictable than all of us would have wished.
Therefore, the idea of ensuring security through a system of collective defence,
through an alliance, is still an attractive and sensible one. Slovakia views
North Atlantic Alliance as the only functioning and reliable security
institution in Euro-Atlantic area and wants to become its full-fledged member.
Taking into consideration the nature of risks and challenges in Europe today,
Slovakia wants to participate in all alliance's new roles and missions. As I
have demonstrated earlier, our active policy in troubled regions of Europe
stands as the evidence that Slovakia can contribute and not solely consume
security. It shows that it will be a reliable ally.
Our present efforts are aimed at ensuring our preparedness for accession at a
moment when the alliance is ready to extend invitations to new candidates. In
this context, Slovakia attaches great significance to the conclusions of the
Washington summit at which the alliance reaffirmed its open doors policy. No
less significant for us was the adoption of the Membership Action Plan (MAP),
which is a practical manifestation of the will to accept new members in the
future. Based on the MAP, on our experience from PfP, and on consultations with
the NATO and member states, we have launched a comprehensive process of
preparing the country for membership. At this point I would like to stress very
good cooperation between Norwegian and our Departments of Defence in many areas
of common interest which our government highly appreciate.
The co-operation was strengthen during very successful visit of Slovak Ministry
of Defence to Norway in September 2000. First, an institutional structure was
set up to facilitate close and flexible co-operation of various governmental
agencies and departments involved in the process of preparation. A governmental
committee was created and led jointly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the
Minister of Defence, which oversees fourteen key areas of preparation for
membership. A working group composed of representatives of the relevant
government departments was formed for each of these areas. As a follow-up to the
adoption of the MAP, a document of principle was drafted - the National
Programme of Preparation of the Slovak Republic for NATO Membership (NP
PRENAME), which is updated annually. The general part presents the target
parameters of preparedness for membership in NATO which should be attained by
2002, i.e. at the time when we hope to receive the invitation to begin talks on
the membership during NATO summit in Prague, our previous capital town. The
second part translates the target parameters into specific tasks, measures,
dates, responsibility for their fulfilment and funding.
The priorities of our preparation as they are expressed in the NP PRENAME for
the year 2001 include: creating the necessary legislative framework with an
emphasis on strategic documents and legislation arising from the NATO acquis;
implementing the defense sector reform; creating a national crisis management
system; implementing measures in the area of a protection of classified
information, and providing sufficient financial resources. Although a lot
remains to be done, we have already fulfilled some important tasks. For
instance, in the area of legislation and strategic documents, we have formulated
a Security Strategy of the Slovak Republic which defines threats, risks, and
challenges of the international security environment in line with the new
Strategic Concept of the alliance.
A further reform is closely connected with the question of resources. We have
pledged to increase defence spending by 0.1 per cent annually. However, it would
be of no use for Slovakia to pledge that it will allocate two per cent of its
annual budget to defence if its economy stagnates. So the issue of resources is
closely connected with further economic reform and performance.
Let me show you few graphs and charts that could describe our economical
development and situation.
GDP PER CAPITA ($ Thousands)
Ten year transition period in economic area means that our country still does
not reach the parameters of economic life which we have had before 1990. The
reasons are very clear - the market of previous socialistic countries has
collapsed. We dramatically decreased production and trade of armament industry
which played in our economy a big role. We have opened our borders for goods
from abroad, mostly from west. Our previous government did not start the process
of transformation of the industry and did not allow foreign companies to invest
to our industry. You can see from this chart (Att. 8) that our GDP per capita is
raising steadily but is still below level before 1990. For our economy which is
not so rich like yours is very important to bring foreign investors and
investment to our country. The situation has dramatically changed after
election1998 as you can see from this chart. I would like to admit that part of
this investment is coming even from Norway thanks to good co-operation with
Norsk Hydro, Telenor, Hadeland Glassverk and others.
Moreover, it is not only the question of how much we spend on defence but above
all on what the money is spent. So we need not only to increase the defence
spending, but above all allocate resources more efficiently in order to ensure
compatibility and interoperability of our armed forces with those of the member
states.
GDP AND DEFENCE EXPENDITURES
We are well aware that MAP and NP PRENAME, though very important, is primarily a
technical matter. But the enlargement process will be a political decision after
all. The decision to enlarge will have to command a strong political support
based on a consensus among allies, and within each member and candidate country
the support based on a consensus of all major political parties as well as the
public at large. Our public understands that as well: opinion polls show that
the membership of Slovakia in NATO, despite a previous fall, is today supported
by half of Slovak population with a potential for further increase. This is
important, since NATO is an organisation of free democratic states which have
the will to unite in defence of their values. Therefore, the allies must be
convinced that our perspective of the world rests on the same values of
democracy, freedom and protection of human rights. Slovakia wishes to be a
member of this community of democracies, it wants to take part in its building
and defence. Please, let me express our hope that Norway will support our aim to
be member of NATO during the summit in Prague next year.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I think that I covered my time and satisfied your
curiosity. At this point I would like to thank to Mr. O. Grinden, Chairman of
the Oslo Military Society and to the committee for invitation to present foreign
and security policy of Slovak Republic on the floor of this very important
society which I really appreciate. I hope that my lecture will help to deepen
friendly and fruitfull co-operation between our countries and people. In case
that any of you would like to get more information about our country from any
field, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you very much for being such an attentive audience.
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