Secretary General's Speech at the Arthur F. Burns Annual Dinner
Berlin, 7 May 1999

Minister Verheugen,
Mrs. Springer,
Ladies and Gentlemen,


It is an honour and a pleasure to address this distinguished group of
Arthur F. Burns alumni. The Arthur F. Burns programme is one of those
endeavours that put our transatlantic community to life. The strongest
ties across the Atlantic are the ties of personal friendship. As a student
and scholar I spent several years in the United States. Living and working
in another country changes one's perspective on many things. Different
perspectives and common values are what make our Atlantic community so
dynamic and strong.


The world has changed a lot since I was a student. Globalisation has
brought enormous benfits: economic, environmental, cultural. It also means
that, more than ever, countries depend on each other for their stability
and prosperity.


NATO has changed too. The NATO that emerged from the Washington Summit is
ready for the future. From Washington we sent a clear signal. A signal
that Europe's new security architecture is taking shape, that the
transatlantic relationship remains at the heart of this project, and that
the values which are at the core of our transatlantic Alliance are as valid
as ever.


It is these values which will ultimately prevail in the Kosovo crisis. Of
that I am certain. Why? Because there is a community of democratic
countries, a community of decent people out there - a community that does
not tolerate the carnage in its midst, a community to which, we earnestly
hope, a peaceful, stable Balkans will eventually belong as well.


In Washington Kosovo occupied our hearts and minds. But the Summit did not
turn into the "war council" some had predicted. Instead, it became an
impressive demonstration of transatlantic solidarity and unity of purpose.
All Allies - old and new - stood together. And our Partner countries -
nations with most diverse cultures, religions and security traditions -
supported us. This almost universal support is also reflected in the
pronouncements of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the statements by
the leaders of the European Union and the G-8. It is remarkable and it is
heartening.


This clear sense of purpose represents the true nature of the transatlantic
community founded 50 years ago. This community has always stood for much
more than mutual protection. It stood for a practical model of how
democratic nations should cooperate. And it stood for a distinct vision of
how a unifying Europe could escape its troubled past for good.


The fact that NATO's 50th Anniversary coincides with the launching of a
European common currency testifies to the power of this vision. Today, not
only has Europe evolved towards ever-closer union, but America and Europe
have become a tightly-knit community, with a degree of cooperation and
interdependence that exists nowhere else on this globe. The United States
and Europe enjoy the strongest economic relationship in the world. Our
combined annual trade and investment totals $2 trillion. Commerce and
trade support over 14 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. We thus
have a huge stake in each other's prosperity - and in creating the right
environment for maintaining and reinforcing this prosperity.


This Atlantic community must now be extended and reformed. We must extend
it, because the vision of Truman and Acheson and of Adenauer and Monet
could only become a reality in Europe's Western half. Today, the nations
in Europe's East have a voice of their own and they want to become a full
part of this unique project.


We must also extend it, because the tragedies happening in Europe's
Southeast remind us that there are parts of this continent that have not
yet made the transition towards democracy and pluralism. These regions,
too, need our attention - they, too, need political stability, and sound
economic perspectives.


But we also need to reform our Atlantic community, because this community
faces new challenges - challenges that are hardly less demanding than those
of 50 years ago; challenges that require a new sharing of responsibilities
between Europe and North America: helping Russia's transformation, managing
regional crises, re-building the Balkans, coping with the spread of weapons
of mass destruction. This requires us to go beyond transatlantic
"business-as-usual". The crisis in Kosovo underlines the urgency and the
importance of this undertaking.


Europe's Security and Defence Identity is a case in point. The ongoing
tragedy on our doorstep keeps reminding us of the need for a stronger
Europe. The aim is a rebalanced atlantic partnership. Not less America,
rather more Europe.


At the Summit we took a major step in that direction. We created a more
flexible NATO; a NATO that allows the European Allies to play a bigger
role; a NATO with a new command structure that facilitates European-led
coalitions whenever a European response seems more appropriate. In short,
it is a NATO in which the European Allies will increasingly play a security
role commensurate with their economic strength.


So much for the theory. But what about the practice? After all, it is
well known that the majority of the aircraft in our Kosovo air campaign are
American. And yet I would maintain that the Kosovo crisis could indeed
become a catalyst for this stronger European role we all seek.


Once a peace implementation mission is set up and reconstruction starts,
this stronger European role will become visible very quickly. Already,
Germany and other Allies are playing a vital role in supporting the work of
humanitarian organizations in Macedonia and Albania.


I will not even try to address every aspect of the Kosovo crisis. I
suspect in any case that you may want to return to this topic later in your
questions. At this stage, let me just emphasise three points which to me
are absolutely fundamental:


First, we should remind ourselves time and again that the Alliance resorted
to force only as the last available means to stop the intensifying ethnic
cleansing campaign by President Milosevic and his henchmen. There will be
no spoils of war for NATO: no territory, no sphere of influence, no oil, no
trade routes. But when the dust settles we will be able to say, we did
what we had to do to uphold human dignity in the face of barbarism. As UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan recently put it: "No government has the right
to hide behind national sovereignty in order to violate the human rights or
fundamental freedoms of its peoples." I could not agree more.


Second, there is no alternative to a political solution to this crisis.
Knowing this, we exhausted every avenue of diplomacy before the first bomb
was released. But there is - for the time being - equally no alternative
to the dual approach of diplomacy backed by military strikes. While the
air campaign takes its course, we continue to explore any promising lead in
search for a settlement. As Presidency of the European Union and chairman
of the G-8 Germany has spearheaded important initiatives in this regard.


Yesterday, Foreign Minister Fischer chaired a successful meeting of the G-8
foreign ministers in Bonn. I welcome in particular the constructive role
Russia is playing. However, the actions of Milosevic continue to defy any
prospect for peace, they defy reason and humanity. And, as the saying
goes, actions speak louder than words.


Third, our primary goal must be the safe return of the refugees and
displaced persons to their houses in Kosovo. Their fate is the ultimate
measure of our success since it is on their behalf that NATO intervened.
The other steps flow from there: the end to violence; the withdrawal of
military, police and para-military forces; the stationing of an effective -
I repeat: effective - international military presence and agreement on a
political framework.


Ethnic cleansing must be reversed. There can be no compromise in that
regard. Anything less would mean that the evil unleashed by Milosevic had
carried the day. At the end of a bloody century and with a new millenium
before us, I could not conceive of that.


Ladies and Gentlemen,


Allow me to end my brief remarks with a few words on the media. Since we
took action in Kosovo, our media policy has been faced with many challenges
and also, inevitably, with some criticism.


It has been said that in war, truth is the first casualty. That maybe so
for the media policy of an isolated dictatorship, but not for NATO. We are
committed to openness since we are an alliance of open societies. We have
admitted mistakes where they occurred and we have expressed our sincere
regrets whenever human life was lost as a consequence.


There must be - and there is - a moral difference between violence applied
willfully to kill, maim and oppress and the reluctant and discriminate use
of force designed to stop a murderer in his tracks. Christiane Amanpour,
one of the foremost and experienced CNN reporters, put this very
succinctly: "There is no moral equivalence between the aggressor and the
victim. Objectivity means trying to give all sides a hearing. It does not
mean ……treating all sides as equal."


Ladies and Gentlemen,


Today, the Atlantic community stands as a unique community of shared values
and interests. Its first 50 years, Act One, were characterised by the Cold
War, and then by the struggle to wind it down peacefully. This has largely
been achieved. The Washington Summit raised the curtain to the Second Act
of our transatlantic community, a mature transatlantic partnership that
reaches out across the old faultlines of confrontation. Today I can say
with confidence: the Alliance is ready to face the 21st century.