Prepared Remarks by Alexandr Vondra at the Atlantic Council
January 24, 2012
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Damon, for your kind introduction. And thanks to the Atlantic Council for hosting me today. It is always a pleasure to be back in Washington.
When speaking on the transatlantic relations, we should take a moment to commemorate the late President Václav Havel. He was a visionary and a committed Atlanticist, who strongly believed in cooperation between Europe and the United States. In 2002, at the beginning of the Prague Summit, Havel characterized the Alliance as follows: (Quote) „NATO represents a unique combination of two parts of the world, …, closely related to each other and yet fairly distant in many ways, both geographically and mentally.“ Havel also noted that the present era is „…a time of serious testing of the relationship between America and Europe, and that the fate of NATO in the future depends, …, on how those concerned will stand this test.“ (End of quote). I think that these words of Václav Havel are as true today as they were almost ten years ago.
The key motto of Václav Havel says that „Truth and Love will Win over Lies and Hatred.“ And if this should apply to NATO, we need to face the truth about our partnership, although it might sometimes be unpleasant…
The reality of today is the following: Firstly, the influence of the Western civilization in the world is fading. The United States struggle on political and economic front at home. It is shifting its focus from traditional areas of interest towards the Asian-Pacific pivot, which will be the future playing field of the emerging and resurgent powers. Secondly, Europe, and the EU in particular, struggles on economic front too. The effort to fix the Eurozone crisis will take years and will be costly. As a consequence, the importance of Europe in the US national security policy is shrinking. And thirdly and parallel to that, the countries in Central and Eastern Europe such as the Czech Republic, once seen as a part of the problem, are now regarded as a part of the solution. We are no longer exposed to a sunshine.
However, in spite of, or precisely because of this new reality, keeping the transatlantic alliance and bond strong is important as never before. We – the Europeans and Americans – need each other to tackle the common interests in front of rising competition from the other parts of the world. We simply can’t do it effectively alone.
It is only natural that many people ask whether the transatlantic bargain, as we used to know it, is still a good deal. The traditional transatlantic bargain is based on the division of labor: the United States helps protect Europe, and Europe, in return, helps the US maintain peace and security around the globe. Recently, many people on both sides of the Atlantic have started questioning the meaning and the viability of this premise. It has been a recurring theme ever since the end of the Cold War. The positive spirit of the Lisbon Summit has been somehow diluted by the impact of the economic crunch on the defense budgets, by the challenges NATO has been facing in Afghanistan or by the lessons learned from the operation in Libya.
No matter how harsh the geopolitical and financial realities may be, Europe and the United States must stick together. I see 3 particular reasons why this is important:
1) Firstly, there are many ties that bind us. We share the same values, interests and fight the same wars. We are like a family, and our vital interest is to keep the family together because of the values it represents and the security it provides. Our common goal is to promote the values we share in the world. It is the test of the West and we must not resign.
2) Secondly, we face the same threats, challenges and competitors, both in the field of security and economy. Terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will remain serious threats for the near future. And we will continue to face increased competition from rapidly advancing economies, with China being a prime example of such a challenger.
3) And thirdly, in order to tackle these challenges, we need to look for innovative ways of cooperation and stop competing against each other. Although we are friends in arms, we are almost like enemies when it comes to defense business. In times of scarce resources, coming against each other is, at best, very ineffective. It is important that we pool & share resources and capabilities that will make our alliance stronger. These were the messages by the former and current US Secretaries of Defense Bob Gates and Leon Panetta, and I fully share them.
In this context, I think that we have a unique opportunity for the NATO Summit in Chicago to demonstrate that NATO remains relevant and responsive to the new challenges.
1) The first task is to get Smart Defense right and on track. We must bear in mind that Smart Defense is a state of mind, and not the ultimate goal. It is a reaction to limitations, and it should be seen as a serious strategy that will carry us to better times and better capabilities. We must not over-conceptualize Smart Defense. As the UK Defense Secretary Phil Hammond recently said at this venue, it really gets down to prioritization, thorough defense planning and national specialization. Multinational cooperation takes time to yield results – it is a marathon rather than a sprint. And most importantly, in order to achieve adequate results, we must invest adequate resources. The AGS – Allied Ground Surveillance – is a good example. The Czechs have paid their cheques in advance, and we all in NATO must reach an agreement on financing of this important program before the Chicago Summit.
2) The second task is to finish the transition in Afghanistan. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan must reflect the realities on the ground, and not the timeline of political campaigns, and I say that as a politician. Together in, together out, that is the key principle that we must stand up to. For the past 20 years, the interventions in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan have been the driving force behind the transformation of our armed forces. The Czech Republic has stood side by side the United States in each of these major wars. Thanks to Afghanistan, we have been able to speed up the transformation and rearmament of the Czech Armed Forces. I will propose to my government and Parliament to prolong the mandate of our participation in ISAF for another two years.
But it is also important that we draw a plan B for a world where there are fewer missions. The „foreign legion only“ principle of expeditionary forces will not be sustainable. The taxpayers are willing to support military if they feel it protects them and their safety. That is why we need to need to start concentrate also on our core task, which is the common defense of our homelands.
3) And that brings me to our third priority for Chicago, which is keeping Article 5 strong and moving towards practical deeds that confirm its relevance. The reduction of US forces in Europe, recently announced by President Obama and Secretary Panetta, is shifting a good deal of security risk management onto Europe. But if Europe is supposed to do the job, collective defense and other core tasks of NATO must become the main driving source towards increased interoperability and capability improvement. The US military presence in Europe must be seen as a force multiplier.
Prudent defense planning and regular Article 5 exercises must help us revive the concept of the NATO Response Force as a tool for transformation of European forces so that Europe can be a) more self-sufficient, but b) still interoperable with you. One such opportunity will be the Steadfast Jazz Exercise that will be held in Poland in 2013, with full support of the Czech Republic. It is also of paramount importance that we maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and do not lower our ambitions in this field. And finally, we must also sustain the development of the NATO missile defense approved in Lisbon. The Allies should be able to declare the interim NATO Missile Defense operational capability in Chicago.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me now say a few words about the Czech-US partnership. At the beginning of my remarks I said that we are no longer in the spotlight of the US attention. But that does not mean that we are off the stage. The United States will remain our most important security partner, and NATO will be the critical pillar of our national defense strategy. It is true that we have now moved beyond the security sector reform period, yet we cooperate in several critical areas.
1) First, we contribute towards NATO collective defense in the field of helicopter pilot training. That is our national niche we have been building for several years. We successfully deployed Mi-transport helicopters to Afghanistan; we are training Afghan pilots in Kabul, we are the leading country of several multinational helicopter projects in NATO; we have reached an agreement with Russia on conditions for modernization of MI-helicopters for third countries. And mostly importantly, we are developing a multinational helicopter training center in the Czech Republic that will be our national Top Gun initiative for Chicago. We are confident that it will be one the flagships of the NATO Smart Defense. This initiative was one of the highlights from the last year’s meeting of President Obama with the Czech Prime Minister Nečas. Today, I discussed this project with Secretary Panetta, who assured me of the highest US support to the initiative.
2) The second area of Czech-US cooperation is missile defense. Although we do not have a prime role in the current missile defense plans, we cooperate with the United States in the field of missile defense science and research. Several of our research institutes partner with the US Missile Defense Agency and contribute to the development of the system. My country has a lot to offer in terms of innovation and research potential.
3) Third, as I already said earlier, the Czech and US soldiers are fighting side by side in Afghanistan. But we also train together. As we speak, there are several US helicopter pilots being trained in the Czech Republic, and we will train more of them in the future. Together with the United States, the Czechs will continue focusing on training and mentoring of the Afghan forces. We are also preparing the transformation of the military component of our PRT in the Logar Province in Afghanistan, which will then operate jointly with the US Task Force. The US support in operations have made us a strong ally, and we are grateful for this.
There is one more area that I want to highlight. I started this day by opening a seminar on a Czech-US defense industry cooperation. My messages to our industry representatives was that the United States should make full use of the tradition and innovative potential that our defense industry offers. I also said that we need government support and enabler to work closer together. I am very pleased to announce that today, at the meeting with Secretary Panetta, we have finalized the negotiations on the Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreement. This agreement will open the door for our companies to compete and cooperate on our respective markets in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
Dear friends,
To sum up the key messages that wanted to share with you today: The transatlantic bargain still represents a good deal, despite the austere defense budgets and geopolitical shifts. The US presence in Europe is of vital interest to the countries of Central and Easter Europe. As we move into the post-Afghanistan period, we will need to rely on defense planning, NRF exercises and smart defense initiatives that will lead to better interoperability and capabilities between the United States and European forces. Our goal is to keep NATO relevant, and the Czech Republic stands ready to work towards this goal.
Thank you, and I look forward to taking your questions.