ameriški dosje ALLAN WENDT* The United States and the Future of European Security I would like to spend some time discussing developments concerning the future security of Europe. My comments are in large measure based on the January NATO summit meeting in Brussels. In particular. I would like to discuss the Partnership for Peace. Following the summit, an invitation to join this Partnership was extended to the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, including Slovenia. American security policy in Europe is based upon three long-standing objectives. The United States seeks to: 1. Prevent any country from launching a direct attack on the United States. 2. Prevent indirect threats to the United States by ensuring that no single power dominates in Europe; as a corollary to this objective, the United States seeks to prevent war between the great powers of Europe. 3. Promote economic prosperity throughout Europe. How will the U.S. achieve these objectives in post Cold War Europe? In a series of major foreign policy addresses last September, the Clinton administration outlined its strategy for dealing with the changes that have occurred since the end of the Cold War. Briefly, this strategy consists of four components. We seek to: 1. Strengthen the community of major market democracies. 2. Foster and consolidate the new democracies and economies where possible. 3. Counter aggression and support the liberalization of states hostile to democracies. 4. Help democracy and market economies take root in regions of greatest humanitarian concern. As part of this strategy. President Clinton proposed formally at Brussels last January a Partnership for Peace. The members of NATO accepted the proposal at the summit in Brussels. Following the summit. President Clinton's special envoy, U.S. Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Madeleine Albright, came to Slovenia to explain the proposal to Slovenian government and to encourage Slovenia to seek to join in the plan. She emphasized that Slovenia would have the strong support of the United States. Slovenia meets the criteria set forth in the NATO invitation to join. It is a member of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and has demonstrated its willingness and ability to contribute to the Partnership. Slovenia * Allan Wcndt. imtuvidor ZD A v Sloveniji 338 is a functional multi-party democracy. It has been and remains uninvolved in any of the hostilities in Bosnia and Croatia. On the contrary, Slovenia has played a constructive role in the search for solutions for this terrible conflict. I am delighted that Slovenia has formally indicated to the NATO countries its desire to participate, Slovenia now awaits their response. I will return to Ambassador Albright's visit in a few moments. But first I would like to discuss with you in more detail the purpose for the Partnership for Peace. This Partnership is intended to extend to the new democracies of Europe the security and stability that have made NATO and Western Europe prosperous. The Partnership is also designed to instill habits of cooperation in such areas as defense planning, joint training and exercises. The Partnership should prepare nations for joint military cooperation in a range of military missions including search and rescue, disaster assistance, environmental clean-up, and peacekeeping. What is probably the most attractive feature of the Partnership is that it could provide an approach to future NATO membership for countries such as Slovenia - if Slovenia chooses to seek such membership and is prepared to add to NATO's overall security - and if and when the NATO states agree upon expansion of the alliance. The Partnership for Peace is, frankly, a delicate balancing act. The NATO allies seek to help meet the security needs of the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe, taking into account the situation prevailing in Russia. As Undersecretary of Defense Frank Wisner explained during testimony before key subcommittees of the United States Senate on February 1, .. effective cooperation in European security and in maintaining the global balance presupposes Russia will pursue policies along its periphery which respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of newly independent states. Our strategy for the next five years should be to hedge our bets, reaching out to the East on one hand and remaining prepared for reversals on the other." In other words the Partnership for Peace can serve as a mechanism for integrating all the states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union with the West, but it can also help NATO strengthen its collective defense role if a new threat emerges in the East. On January 26, Romania became the first country to accept the offering of the Partnership for Peace. Several other countries have since joined or will soon join the Partnership. These include Lithuania. Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In addition Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Sweden, Latvia and Estonia have all indicated that they hope to join this plan. I believe the kind of practical, evolutionary cooperation envisaged in our Partnership for Peace Proposal is exactly what Slovenia needs right now as it seeks to build security relations with the West. Meanwhile, I would like to mention here that a United States military liaison team has been in operation in Slovenia since last October to help in developing a modern, democratic defense organization. This military liaison team works with Slovenia's Ministry of Defense. The purpose of the team is to share with Slovenia our ideas and traditions of a civilian controlled military force in a democracy. The team is headed by a U. S. Army colonel and has four members who work with their Slovene military counterparts. The team arranges visits to the United States, brings in experts and promotes useful contacts between our two countries' military forces. I should note that the United States conducts the same kind of program in twelve other newly democratic countries in Central and Eastern Europe. 339 Tconja in praku. let. 31.