Czech Republic marks ten years in NATO

Ten years ago this Thursday, the Czech Republic became one of three post-communist countries that joined NATO. To commemorate the anniversary, and to debate the future of the alliance, the Czech Senate is hosting a high-profile conference entitled NATO Enlargement Ten Years On: Achievements, Challenges, Prospects.

Vlasta Parkanová and Přemysl Sobotka, photo: CTK

From the Czech Republic’s point of view there is no question that the 1999 enlargement which saw the country join is one of NATO’s major achievements. On Thursday the Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, said in his opening address in the main hall of the Czech Senate that the role of the alliance in the 1990s had been “crucial” in restoring democratic values in the region. In his view, it was also fortunate that NATO had not ceased to exist in Europe, following the fall of the iron curtain, and had instead transformed and developed to counter new threats. He was not alone in that assessment. Other Czech officials – including the head of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka and the Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanová – were of a similar view.

One of the major NATO operations ever took place shortly after the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary joined in 1999, when it moved to stop the crisis in Kosovo. That was seen as a sign that the alliance had successfully adapted to the new era. In one of the speeches on Thursday, the President of the European Security and Defence Assembly Robert Walter said that the recent decision by France to rejoin NATO’s command structures was proof that NATO’s role in European security is indispensable.

“The announcement yesterday by President Sarkozy of full reintegration of France into NATO is an important step. It should also be taken as a sign that France recognises that defence in Europe is not a choice between NATO and the EU. There is nothing in the EU that meets the provisions of Article 5. Even – and I hesitate to talk about the Lisbon treaty in this building because the Czech Senate is still discussing the document – even the Lisbon treaty does not do that. Collective territorial and strategic defence in Europe could and should be the role of the 21 EU NATO members and their three non-EU members.”

As for the prospects and challenges NATO now faces, many speeches during the initial part of the conference focused on one word: Russia. It seems that NATO will have to re-define its relationship to Russia and the process will not be easy. Senior Czech diplomat and former ambassador to Russia Luboš Dobrovský said on Thursday that Russia would like to revive its former influence in Central and Eastern Europe which it lost in the early 1990s, and consider it again as falling within its sphere of influence. Other speakers disagreed, making the case for NATO approaching Russia as a partner. Another major issue – that of a possible positioning part of a US missile defence shield in the Czech Republic - also came up; even it is already clear that the conference will be unable to find a unanimous position on the issue, it is likely to shed more light on the attitudes of various NATO countries.

As far as the conference is concerned, there is still much ahead: former Czech president Václav Havel and NATO Secretary General Jaap the Hoop Scheffer are due to speak later on Thursday. But probably the most anticipated address will come on the second day of the Prague meeting: a speech by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright.