The official position of Fidesz on NATO's Prague Summit
Dátum: 2002-12-03 17:17:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=6266
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 17:56:45.197565, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2
Fidesz welcomes the invitation of seven new members into the Alliance and similarily welcomes the decisions on the future roles of NATO. At the same time, Fidesz expresses its reservations concerning some of the premature offers of capacities made by the Hungarian government at the summit.
Enlargement
Fidesz fully supports the decision of the Prague Summit to invite Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty, and will support the related motion in parliament during ratification.
The second round of enlargement:
- will establish territorial continuity with the Alliance, and Hungary will cease to be a geographically isolated member state of NATO;
- will result in indirect economic benefits in our immediate neighbourhood as a result of increased security;
- will provide a more secure environment for the Hungarian national communities living in neighbouring countries;
- should not be the last one: the "policy of open doors" must be maintained in the directon of the Balkans and Ukraine;
- has been a long overdue moral obligation toward the Baltic states.
The North Atlantic Alliance has rightly placed important emphasis on the criteria of cohesion, as only those countries are able to strengthen NATO where the emergence of the rule of law and democratic institutions, as well as the solidity of transatlantic values is irreversible, where the military's mindset is not oriented against an internal or external enemy easily identified as a national minority or a neighbouring country, and where extremist political forces are not in a position to be able to come to power. Fidesz is confident that the new round of enlargement will reinforce NATO's cohesion.
The second wave of NATO's post-Cold War enlargement also affects the situation of the Hungarian national comunities in Romania and Slovakia. These countries' candidacy for membership has already greatly contributed to the improvement in the assertion of minority rights, and we expect that the environment in which the Hungarian minorities are pursuing their legitimate goals will become more secure and democratic as a result of actual NATO-membership. Nevertheless, further positive measures are needed on behalf of the Romanian and Slovak governments, especially on the issue of confiscated community property. As Mr. Tom Lantos, ranking Democrat on the International Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives stated during the debate of Resolution 468 ("Transatlantic security and NATO enhancement resolution of 2002") on 7 October 2002, "the major unresolved issue affecting the minority communities of both countries is the continued postponement of the implementation of laws for restitution and/or compensation for communal property confiscated from Hungarian religious and educational institutions. Although both Romania and Slovakia have taken important steps to address this critical question of property restitution, progress has been both slow and disappointingly limited...I urge both countries to pursue restitution more vigorously in the coming months, until fair and complete restitution is implemented according to the rule of law. Only by the safeguarding of religious and minority rights and freedoms will the NATO zone of stability be extended to nations that share a demonstrated commitment to democracy and a true community of values." Fidesz expects that the two countries will settle the question of minority property restitution by the end of the ratification period.
Transatlantic relations
The reinforcement of transatlantic ties, continued U.S. presence in Europe and a strong cooperation between Europe and America is in the interest of Hungary, as well as of the whole continent. The effectiveness of the Alliance is linked to the need of cooperation based on shared values. NATO is not only a tool for collective security, but also a key factor in global stability. In this context, Fidesz welcomes the strengthening of NATO's role in areas like combatting international terrorism.
Hungarian contributions
The government had previously announced that a defence capabilities review is being carried out at the Ministry of Defence, due to be finished by March 2003, meaning that the actual volume of Hungarian capabilities up for contributions will not be known until then. In spite of this, the government has made a wide spectrum of concrete commitments from sending troops to Afghanistan to participating in the U.S.-led missile defence program, even though no requests have arrived to Hungary to this end. Such commitments, lacking prior knowledge of available capacities, might easily backfire as far as the delivery is concerned and risk Hungary's credibility within NATO. Moreover, the government only informed Parliament of the offers following the Prague Summit. At the four-party talks on 24 November, agreement was reached that all projected contributions will be debated by the defence and foreign relations committees.
30 November 2002