NATO Chief Willing to Talk Specifics With Russia
By JULIAN HALE
Published: 26 Jan 21:35 EST (02:35 GMT)
BRUSSELS - NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Jan. 26 that, if Russia could be a bit more specific on its proposals for a new security architecture for Europe, then he thought that the Allies would be ready to discuss them.
De Hoop Scheffer, speaking at an event hosted by the Security & Defence Agenda think tank, he added that he was happy with the existing security architecture for Europe based on the EU, NATO and the OSCE. In the context of the Russian proposals, he said that he was "interested in Russia's interpretation of the notion of territorial integrity."
He added that there needed to be a change in the relationship with Russia, pointing to potential cooperation in Afghanistan, on piracy and on terrorism as well as possible discussion on arms control. Informal contact with Russia has begun and a Russian delegation is due to attend a security conference in Munich next month.
As for Ukraine and Georgia's NATO aspirations, de Hoop Scheffer said that he could not give a timeframe for them joining but that it was a performance-based process with NATO setting the pace and that it "was not around the corner."
With regard to Afghanistan, he called for a more regional approach, bringing in countries like Pakistan, India, China, Russia and Iran. He also welcomed the United States' intention to send more troops to Afghanistan and said that Europe must step up with forces or, if not, do more on the civilian side. He referred to the "civilian surge" as being "just as important as the military surge."
In general terms, de Hoop Scheffer welcomed the new U.S. administration's intention to lead from the front, adding that "when the U.S. calls, Europe should have a unified answer with resources to match." He also described the current 'costs lie where they fall' system in NATO as unbalanced and called for "innovative ways to fund operations."
The Secretary General also said that he was drafting a declaration of Alliance security for NATO's 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg/Kehl. He hoped that NATO would be tasked with developing a new strategic concept by the summit as "a discussion is needed on how to get more out of NATO." Energy security and cyberdefense were among areas he believed that NATO could add value.
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