Speech by the H.E. Ferdinando Zezza, Italian Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia.

September 22, 2006.
Plavinas Secondary school.

It is for me a real privilege to be here today among you to give you a short presentation of the present state of NATO from Italian perspective.

Over fifty years ago a well known French historian, Raymond Aron, wrote that „The Atlantic Pact has no ultimate aim other that rendering itself useless”. As it often happens to prophecies concerning the future of mankind, countries and therefore also of alliances, this one never came true.

It is the fact that in the last fifteen years the world’s scenery has gone through an unpredictable change, a change in which people of my generation may still have problems to believe. The remarkable fact is that NATO, an alliance of free countries on both banks of the Atlantic, has been able to follow the change, to adapt itself to the new circumstances and continues to represent a bulwark against the threats of our times. To put it in other words, for over 50 years NATO has represented the pillar of the free world collective defence and, despite the skepticism that sometimes surfaces in one or other member country, remains a highly successful and vital Organization. Let me add that such skepticism is not shared by the vast majority of Italian public opinion and I have been glad to learn that a similar attitude prevails in Latvia whose people, according to a recent opinion pool, overwhelmingly support the Alliance.

NATO, as well all know, was born to face the threat coming to the free world from Soviet Union and its more or less willing allies, or rather satellites. We are lucky enough to be able to say, now, that such an ambitious task has been brilliantly achieved. It might even be argued, but I prefer to leave the discussion of this particular point to historians, that NATO by its sheer existence meaningfully contributed to the collapse of the Soviet system and therefore to the end of the cold war.

The end of the cold war, though, did not by itself mean the appearance of a new dawn of peace in our world. It is a fact that even if a conventional, I underline conventional, aggression against the territory of any ally seems to be rather unlikely in the foreseeable future, new threats and challenges such as terrorism, the spreading of weapons of mass destruction, trafficking of drugs, arms and even human beings have materialized. Such threats and challenges are of immediate and direct concern to the sphere of citizen’s personal liberty and it is up to NATO, strategic concepts, operational capacities and external projection. In other words NATO has had, and has, to transform itself from a mere instrument for defence into an organization for collective security.

To achieve this aim the Alliance has not only to continually update its military structure but also to start new forms of political dialogue and cooperation in the defence sector with countries that share its founding values and its security problems. NATO is not without experience in such an exercise: since the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the cold war it started giving an important support to former members of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet republics which had finally been in the position to enter the path of freedom and democratic reforms. I think that the measure of the success achieved in such an enterprise is given by the fact that up to now ten of these countries, and Latvia whose contribution is highly appreciated is obviously among them, have become full fledged members of the Alliance while others are preparing to join the club in the more or less near future. First among these are Albania, Croatioa and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia whereas Italy, due to its geographical position and for historical reasons, loks forward to the moment when the conditions will be in place for other countries of the Balkans such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro entering the partnership for peace mechanism.

I would also like to point out that the aspiration to establish different forms of active co-operation links with NATO is not limited to the countries I have just mentioned. In this regard I think it is worth mentioning the NATO – Russia strategic partnership, articulated on a joint basis by a political dimension and one of military collaboration, the NATO – Ukraine Commission, the Euro – Atlantic Partnership extending from the Balkans to the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Mediterranean Dialogue which includes the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean and is therefore, once again for historical and geographical reasons, of a special interest to Italy.

The list of “partnership” I have just mentioned is however in no way exhaustive. The fact that NATO is increasingly seen as provider of security at a global level is further proven by the forms of co-operation which have been established with countries as far away as Japan, Australia and New Zealand which have expressed the wish to develop the existing dialogue on a more structured basis. I actually think that ways and means to answer such requests of enhanced dialogue and co-operation will be among the items that are going to be discussed at the NATO summit which will take place in your capital next November.

At this stage I think that a presentation of the Italian perception of NATO, though short and necessarily incomplete, requires a reference to the relationship between the Alliance and European Union. The European Union, as you possibly know, is firm in its determination to do more for the defence is far from weakening the necessary cohesion of NATO but, to the contrary, contributes to its development and to a more balanced distribution of burdens and responsibility in facing security needs and strengthening global peace.

As the process of Europe’s integration advances, NATO and the EU are in the favorable situation to develop a common strategic vision and to recognize the “added value” that each side brings to the table by enhancing the political dialogue and, to use an expression very common nowadays, “thinking globally”.

From a more practical point of view, an institutional framework is already operating. 19 of the members of NATO are members of the EU with whom the US has established a direct and well proved channel of communication. Contingent problems of a “theological,” in inverted commas, nature may always arise but they can be smoothed through discussion of less formal contacts at political level aimed at striking the right balance for a mutually beneficial partnership. In any case I hope you will agree that in a world which is going increasingly global, transformation is an unavoidable requirement and an on-going process for every international organization and the obvious conclusion is that new challenges call for new, imaginative solutions.

Let me finally state that Italy considers the success of NATO’s transformation as a priority. This explains the Italian full commitment towards the achievement of this global. September 11 th and the need to tackle terrorism have led NATO to extend its sphere of activity way beyond the traditional territorial dimension. It is on the basis of such considerations that Italy has taken the lead of the ISAF operation in Afghanistan where it has also responsibility over the provincial Reconstruction Team in Heart at the border with Iran and the patrolling activities of the Active Endeavour Operation in the Mediterranean.

Moreover, Italy plays a significant role in the process of stabilization in an area of primary strategic importance for the whole of Europe such as the Balkans.
Its soldiers are present on the ground also in Albania and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and it leads NATO’s KFOR operation in Kossovo and, under the EU hat, the Althea mission in Bosnia- Herzegovina.

Having reached this stage, it is my duty to thank you all for your patience while I am at your disposal to answer your questions within the limits of my non universal knowledge.