*{Security and Stability in Europe [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Security%20and%20Stability%20in%20Europe?open&topic_id=300350000&theme_id=300]

            02.07.2001

            European Economic Summit 2001}

            Charles McLean, Director of Communications and Associate Member of the Board of the World Economic Forum, asked the panellists to explain how Europe could stop merely responding to crisis and finally become a proactive force in the region. In response, German Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs Gunter Pleuger, said that Europe had made a mistake in tolerating islands of instability in its midst. He maintained that in order to establish and expand the European zone of stability to the south and east, no new borders should be tolerated on the continent, especially with respect to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. His Romanian colleague, Mircea Geoana, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, supported this appraisal, warning against a new fall line developing between the Baltics and the Balkans. Geoana pointed to a second fall line between the north and south of Europe that also needed to be overcome. 

            Austrian Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, explained that one of the reasons that the series of crises in Balkans has not been dealt with properly is because the network of international organizations and agreements has not become an interlocking entity. Macedonia is only the most recent example of the disappointment of those expectations awakened in the early 90s. She stated that we clearly need a new approach. Finally, NATO General Secretary Lord Robertson reminded the participants that we indeed did have reasons to be optimistic. The main challenge to European civilian policy-makers, according to Robertson, is to make military intervention unnecessary. NATO action in the Balkans would, however, remain vital as long as civil society didn’t take the initiative, he stated. 

            Asked to elaborate on the role of Russia in the European security equation, the panellists agreed that Europe only has a future as a united continent. German Foreign Minister Pleuger proposed including Russia on all levels of decision-making. According to him, the political should take precedence over the military. Austria’s Foreign Minister Ferrero-Waldner stated that cooperation with NATO is stabilizing all of Central and Eastern Europe and that Austria should therefore consider joining the treaty organization sometime in the future. She also announced her country’s interest in supporting Russian membership in the World Trade Organization. 

            Lord Robertson emphasized the need for Europe to recognize the new security threats facing the continent as a whole. He highlighted the modest size of the European Security and Defence Identity’s 60,000-troop army, this meaning that 98% of the member state’s total armed forces are only involved on paper. Robertson said that if Europe wants more than a paper army and paper navy it has to gradually integrate and develop its capabilities and thus become a true partner of the United States. A key issue in this process would be the avoidance of duplication and proper coordination between NATO and the EU.

            After opening the discussion for questions from the floor, debate turned to the topic of burden sharing. Pleuger was optimistic that Turkey would soon be able to play a more positive role in EU-NATO cooperation. He added that the entire eastern Mediterranean is becoming an area in which Europe would need to increase both its economic and political activity, thus complementing US initiatives. He reminded participants that problems did not only loom in the south. Kaliningrad was also becoming an island of instability and would soon be encapsulated within the Union, following the next wave of enlargement. Pleuger emphasized the need for close cooperation with Russia in fighting government corruption and organized crime in this Baltic region. 

            A question from the floor illustrated the ambivalence that Schengen is now playing both in uniting and dividing Europe. Geoana agreed that not only Hungary has a Schengen problem vis-a-vis its minority in Yugoslavia; Romania would also be expected to alter its close ties with Moldova. He was hopeful, however, that close cooperation with the authorities in the bordering, non-Schengen states would help eliminate the police corruption that is undermining the battle against human smuggling and other forms of organized crime. Pleuger reminded the panel that EU membership by no means automatic access to the Schengen.                  

                  *{Contributors:       Ferrero-Waldner Benita
                  Geoana Mircea
                  McLean Charles
                  Pleuger Gunter
                  Robertson George}