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The Evolution of a New Nato for a New Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

John Woodliffe
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Extract

History suggests that a military alliance will rarely survive major political change that results in the disappearance of the original danger that the alliance was first set up to combat. Since 1989 the reshaping of the political and strategic map of Europe has proceeded on a scale and at a pace such as to give rise to an expectation that the North Atlantic Alliance would become a victim of historical inevitability and thus be either formally dissolved or left to atrophy. Instead, the North Atlantic Alliance has embarked on a root and branch transformation of its structures, procedures and strategies for the twenty-first century. What is equally remarkable is that these changes have been accommodated within the framework of the original text of the North Atlantic Treaty drawn up in 1949,1 thus obviating the need for large-scale formal amendment.

Type
Shorter Articles, Comments and Notes
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 174 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 1998

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References

1. Washington, 4 Apr. 1949, 34 U.N.T.S. 243 (hereafter referred to as the Washington Treaty).Google Scholar

2. The NATO–Russia Founding Act signed on 27 May 1997 is the subject of a separate article in this issue of the Quarterly and is not dealt with in the present article.

3. Text in documentation supplement to 45 NATO Review, No.4,1997; also available through the NATO web-site at: http://www.nato.int//. The NATO web-site is extensive and holds the text of the 1995 published edition of the NATO Handbook with updates along with the texts of all the communiqués cited in this article.

4. London Declaration on a Transformed North Atlantic Alliance, 5/6 07 1990Google Scholar: text in 38 NATO Review, No.4, 1990, p.32, esp. paras.1–7.Google Scholar

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7. Rome Declaration on Peace and Co-operation issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the NAC, 7–8 Nov. 1991: 39 NATO Review, No.6. 1991, p.19.Google Scholar The Alliance's New Strategic Concept appears idem, p.28.

8. Dissolution of the Soviet Union took place on 21 Dec 1991.

9. In addition, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland attended meetings of the NACC as observers.

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40. Preamble, para.4.

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44. Supra nn.10 and 14.

45. Madrid Declaration, supra n.3, at para.9; Basic Document, supra n.32, at paras. 4, 5.

46. Bask Document, Idem, para.11.

47. Idem, para.7.

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52. Study, idem, paras.55, 56. Cf. Tenth Report, idem, para.61, which considers that a new member State should not exclude in principle the peacetime stationing of other NATO States' forces on its territory.

53. See Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Greece and Turkey, London, 22 Oct. 1951. This added “the territory of Turkey” to the areas in Art.6 of the Washington Treaty that are covered by the collective defence undertaking in Art.5.

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59. Supra n.3, at para.5.

60. Pursuant to Art.10 of the Washington Treaty: “The Parties may by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty.”

61. Madrid Declaration, supra n.3. at para.6.

62. Study, supra n.50, at paras.70, 81; the acquis includes all summit declarations and NAC ministerial decisions as well as the NATO-SOFA Agreement 1951 and the Agreement on the Status of NATO, National Representatives and International Staff 1951.

63. Para.7.

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66. “NATO's Chosen Recruits Prove Unfit for Service”, Guardian, 7 July 1997.

67. Tenth Report, supra n.16, at para.55.

68. Para.8. The Declaration singles out Romania and Slovenia as aspiring members that have demonstrated “positive developments towards democracy and the rule of law”.

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76. (1996) 35 I.L.M. 75; the initialling of the agreement took place on 21 Nov. 1995 at the Wright-Patterson airforce base near Dayton, Ohio.Google Scholar

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79. Art.2.

80. Art.1. Art.VI sets out the force's rules of engagement in considerable detail.

81. Art.1.1(a).

82. Art.1.1(b).

83. Ibid.

84. See Ssasz, , Introductory note (1996), 35 I.L.M. 75, 78Google Scholar; Report of the Secretary General on the transition from UNPROFOR to IFOR pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1026 (1995) (1996), 35 I.L.M. 235.Google Scholar The requisite authorisations were granted by Res.1031 of the UN Security Council adopted on 15 Dec 1995: idem, p.251; and by the NAC see statement on Bosnia-Herzegovina issued by Joint Meeting of Allied Foreign and Defence Ministers on 5 12 1995: 44 NATO Review, No.1, 1996, p.9.Google Scholar

85. Res.1031, idem, para.24. The status of forces agreements are set out in App.B to Annex 1–A of the Peace Agreement. They are discussed briefly in the text infra.

86. Idem, para.19.

87. Report of the Secretary General, supra n.84, at p.239.Google Scholar

88. Res.1031, para.25.

89. Idem, para.33.

90. Eighteen non-NATO Slates contributed to IFOR, 14 of which are partners in the PFP; the other States are Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia and Morocco.

91. Joulwan, , “SHAPE and IFOR: Adapting NATO to the Needs of Tomorrow”, 44 NATO Review, No.2, 1996, p.6 at p.8.Google Scholar

92. GFA, Art.VI.

93. Idem, Art.VI.9(a).

94. (1996) 35 I.L.M. 102, 104.Google Scholar

95. 1 U.N.T.S. 15.

96. Supra n.94, at para.2.

97. 199 U.N.T.S. 67.

98. Supra n.94, at para.7.

99. Idem, para.21.

100. Schulte, “Bringing Peace to Bosnia and Change to the Alliance”, 45 NATO Review No.2, 1997, p.22 at p.23. Responsibilities for the civil implementation of the GFA were spread among the OSCE and several UN bodies, such as the UN Police Task Force, which remains under UN control.Google Scholar

101. Held in London on 4 and 5 Dec 1996.

102. Meeting of 10 Dec 1996, 45 NATO Review, No.1, 1997, p.35.Google Scholar

103. Ibid.

104. 12 Dec. 1996.

105. See GFA Art.IX; AMAPS, Art.X.

106. Para.7. This did not appear in the corresponding para.5 of SC Res. 1031 establishing IFOR.

107. Supra n.102.

108. NAC Ministerial Council statement, 14 02. 1996: 44 NATO Review, No.2, 1996, p.9.Google Scholar

109. SFOR Press Information Centre release. On the same day, another indicted war criminal, Drljaca, was killed after an exchange of fire with SFOR soldiers.

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113. The Maastricht Treaty on European Union 1991 provides for the definition and implementation of the Union's common foreign and security policy (CFSP) to embrace “all questions related to the security of the Union, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence”: Art.J.4.1. The absence of any definitive timetable for implementation points up the contingent nature of Art.J.4.1. The Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 has not brought the goal any nearer, retaining the substance of the language in the Maastricht Treaty. Art.J.7.1.

114. See the Declaration on the role of WEU and its relations with the EU and the Atlantic Alliance adopted by WEU member States at the Maastricht Summit, 9/10 Dec 1991.

115. T.S. No.1 (1949) Cmd 7599. The full title was the Treaty of Economic Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence.

116. Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK.

117. Art.V.

118. Para.16, Memorandum on the Western European Union submitted by the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 10 Oct 1995, to the Defence Committee: Fourth Report, supra n.110.

119. See Western European Union History, Structure, Prospects (WEU Press and Information Service, Brussels, 1993). The view in the text has been omitted from the most recent WEU official handbook: WEU Today (WEU Secretariat-General, 1997).

120. Fourth Report, supra n.110, at para. 10. This situation will remain so long as NATO membership continues to be a prerequisite of WEU membership: para.11.

121. By the Paris Agreement, 23 Oct. 1954, Cmnd. 9304.

122. See the Rome Declaration, 26–27 10 1984: the Hague Platform. 27 10 1987Google Scholar: WEU Today, supra n. 119, at pp.45et seq.Google Scholar

123. Idem, Annex 1.

124. Operation Sharp Guard in the Adriatic, pursuant to UN SC Res.820, maintaining the embargo against the former Yugoslavia in the Adriatic: the second operation involved police and customs enforcement of UN sanctions on the Danube; the final operation was the contribution of a WEU police contingent to the EU Administration of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina: see WEU Today, supra n.110, at Part II.

125. Issued by the WEU Council of Ministers, Bonn, 19 June 1992.

126. The second WEU Declaration at Maastricht on 10 Dec 1991 invited EU States to accede to the WEU on conditions to be agreed or to become observers; similarly, non-members of the EU that are European member States of NATO were invited to become associate members of the WEU.

127. The status of associate partner was created at the meeting of the WEU Council of Ministers in Kirchberg, 9 May 1994. States in this category are Bulgaria, Czech Republic Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania. Slovakia and Slovenia. Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic are now prospective members of NATO; see above.

128. Tenth Report, supra n.16, at para.11.

129. These forces are known collectively as Forces Answerable to WEU (FAWEU): WEU Today, supra n.119, at p.11.Google Scholar

130. Supra n.17, at para. 3.

131. Idem, para 4.

132. Idem, para.5.

133. Ibid.

134. Idem, para.6.

135. Ministerial meeting of the NAC, Berlin, 6 06 1996, 44 NATO Review, No.4, 1996 p.30.Google Scholar

136. See résumé in idem, p.10. The agreement has not been published.

137. See WEU Today, supra n. 119, at pp.15–17Google Scholar; WEU Council of Ministers; Paris Declaration, 13 05 1997, p.4; Madrid Declaration, 8 July 1997, para.18.Google Scholar

138. Barroso, “The Transatlantic Partnership in the New European Security Context”, 43 NATO Review, No.5, 1995, p.3 at p.5.Google Scholar

139. America and Europe: The Future of NATO and the Transatlantic Relationship, Final Report of the North Atlantic Assembly Presidential Task Force, Brussels, 1993, p.32.Google Scholar

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141. Madrid Declaration, Supra n.3, at para.21.

142. Op. cit. supra n.139, at p.33.Google Scholar See, however, the “temporary and limited multinational force” in Albania set up and co-ordinated by the OSCE under the authority of the mandate created by SC Res.1101 (1997) adopted on 28 Mar. 1997. The tasks of the force are to facilitate the safe and prompt delivery of humanitarian assistance and to help create a secure environment for missions of international organisations in Albania.

143. See, however, the Treaty on Open Skies, 24 Mar. 1992: the Convention on Conciliation and Arbitration Procedures, Oct. 1992.

144. See the Treaty of Amsterdam, 2 Oct. 1997; Memorandum on the UK government's approach to the treatment of European defence issues at the 1996 Inter-Governmental Conference: FCO Information Department and Security Policy Department, Oct 1995.

145. Letter, “Building a New NATO for a New Europe”. 45 NATO Review, No.4, 1997, p.8.Google Scholar

146. Højberg, “The European Security Structure: A Plethora of Organisations?” 43 NATO Review, No.6, 1995, p.30 at p.35.Google Scholar

147. Ibid.