LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Summer 2007

by Ulrike Merten

Sir,
NATO has brought Europe − and Germany especially − the longest period of peace in our history. To succeed, the alliance has constantly needed to adapt to changing security conditions, and since the mid-1990s this has led it into such out-of-area operations as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan. The Afghan intervention made NATO a global player, with military forces deployed well beyond the traditional transatlantic boundaries.

These global activities clearly require NATO to develop a broad approach to security, and that raises key questions over the alliance’s next stage. Should NATO now change from a military coalition into a political alliance able to encompass all facets of a comprehensive security policy? And is it time that NATO became a forum to discuss strategic security policies and decisions before military operations begin? I would answer “Yes” to both questions.
Experience in Afghanistan and Kosovo shows that today’s challenges demand an all-embracing approach from the international community, involving a wide spectrum of civil and military groups. In this context, it is clear that NATO must cooperate closely with the United Nations, the European Union and other regional security organisations and ensure that its own development and security policies are coherent. I believe that it is also essential for NATO to strengthen its capacity to prevent conflicts, as well as its ability to stabilise post-conflict regions and support their reconstruction.

At last November’s NATO summit in Riga, alliance leaders took on board these broader considerations and asked their foreign and defence ministers to devise new practical mechanisms to improve coordination between existing civil and military bodies. The ministers were also told to find workable methods to involve all participants in the planning, conduct and evaluation of current and future operations. Their proposals, which are due to be submitted by the end of this year, should take into account lessons learned from past operations and consider flexible ways to enhance NATO’s military and political planning procedures.

Such discussions over the transformation of NATO are partly being fuelled by changing relationships within the alliance. The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is already impacting on European cooperation with NATO partners, with the EU demonstrating that it can complement NATO as a security provider in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa. The alliance’s future will largely depend on the importance that the US assigns to NATO-EU cooperation.

The future expansion of NATO membership must not be motivated by any simplistic desire to enlarge future “coalitions of the willing”. As well as undermining NATO coherence, this would be inconsistent with the UN’s efforts to create regional security structures. And NATO must also make sure that enlargement does not overstretch its operational capabilities or create unwieldy decision-making procedures.

Despite the EU’s CFSP, I believe NATO and the transatlantic partnership will remain the foundation of German and European security, and continued and careful adaptation of the alliance to new geo-political requirements will remain essential. I support NATO’s aim to increase its support for peace and stabilisation processes. And while NATO should cooperate closely with organisations and countries committed to our system of values, these ambitions should stop short of any attempt to turn NATO into a global police force or a worldwide security system which would usurp UN responsibilities.