PRESS RELEASE

19 April 1999

Summit Deals Unveiled

According to diplomatic sources, speaking to BASIC on condition of anonymity, the summit is preparing a broad new document on stabilizing the Balkans. An American official confirmed that the administration welcomed the German proposal for a stability pact in the Balkans. At the Summit, Balkan countries will receive substantial help from the Alliance, including programmes of cooperation that go far beyond PfP. The US is seeking political support from all Balkan countries in return for closer political and military ties with the Alliance. Bulgaria has approved a US request to allow its air space to be used by Allied aircraft. But neither Bulgaria nor Romania have endorsed the air strikes, most likely due to the economic losses they are incurring as a result of those strikes.

The NATO document on the Balkans may include vaguely worded language that may be later interpreted as an agreement in principle to commit ground troops to the war with Yugoslavia. The proposal may be presented to the European allies as a fundamental loyalty test requiring Alliance solidarity. It remains unclear whether this idea is fully supported by all agencies in Washington. While the UK may be supportive, other NATO states are lukewarm. Some officials in Europe believe that such an agreement would never be accepted by the Europeans, but were unable to point to any state that might actually object.

The US is still pressing for six other documents to be agreed covering strategy, proliferation (WMD), expansion, Defense Capabilities, European defense, and a vision for Europe. However, as late as last Thursday, some European states were pressing for integration of the main points into fewer documents that could more easily be produced in the present circumstances. One senior official from a European embassy in Washington described as "surreal" the discussions taking place on strategy that did not take into account the political lessons of the Kosovo war.

Up until Saturday 17 April, the documentation was far from being finalized due to differences between the US and most Europeans on NATO’s global role. Two alternative texts are being considered for the Declaration. The first says that the Alliance is extending security and stability for all countries in the Euroatlantic area. The second does not define the area of responsibility. A similar disagreement seems to be blocking agreement on the Defense Capabilities Initiative. The US text says: We have announced a Defense Capabilities Initiative in order to safeguard the Alliance's capability to respond to security challenges that will arise from regional conflicts, national disputes or other crises beyond Allied territory. The alternative text, presumably from European NATO members, includes no reference to out-of-area.

The US continues to press NATO to act out-of-area on its own authority because it is an alliance of democracies. The UK and other European states insist on basing military actions on international law, although not necessarily even in the UN Charter. Critics point out that out-of-area action without a UN mandate was supposed to solve Europe’s security problems, but in Kosovo so far the results have been ineffective. The likely language will be that actions should be taken in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter. The reference to the broader principles rather than to the letter of the Charter may provide a sufficient loophole for the US.

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