Europe must avoid being held prisoner by its history - Richard C. Holbrooke, Asst. Sec. for European and Canadian Affairs, May 29, 1995 - Transcript

US Department of State Dispatch, June 26, 1995

It is an extraordinary honor to be here today, to follow my friend and respected colleague Volker Ruehe, to be invited to address the North Atlantic Assembly, to speak in this inspirational chamber where democracy now reigns, and to speak to this distinguished gathering. I would like to take special note of our extraordinary, high-level, bipartisan American Congressional Delegation led by Senator Roth and Congressman Bereuter.

The North Atlantic Assembly meets today for the first time, while only a few miles from here the situation in Bosnia has reached a turning point. I have not come here today to address the crisis itself. Response by NATO and the UN to the outrageous behavior of the Bosnian Serbs is being developed now through close consultation between the UN, NATO, the Contact Group, and the nations concerned, including Hungary, which is potentially a frontline state if the conflict spreads. The failure to respond properly in the first phase of the Yugoslav tragedy--the greatest collective failure of the West since the 1930s--only underlines the need to avoid any further backsliding in Central Europe in the future.

It is ironic, but instructive, that even as we struggle with new problems, we have been commemorating the closing days of World War II in Europe--those dramatic days of liberation.

Unfortunately, in Central Europe, liberation from the grip of the Third Reich did not lead to freedom as it did in Western Europe and in Germany itself. By the end of May 1945, Patton's advancing troops had already with-drawn from Western Bohemia, which they had liberated, leaving the Red Army in control not only in Czech and Slovak lands, but throughout the region. The hope of liberation soon gave way to the sober reality of foreign rule and a new Cold War.

Forty-four years later, when the Iron Curtain crashed to the ground, Central Europeans again found themselves in the delirious throes of liberation. Romanians and ethnic Hungarians embraced one another in Transylvania; Bulgarians and ethnic Turks celebrated in the streets of Sofia; and Lithuanians and ethnic Poles cheered in Vilnius.

The rejuvenation of parliamentary democracy throughout the region--so evident here in this magnificent National Assembly--is tribute to the progress that has been made toward a free and undivided Europe. In many ways, Hungary is showing the way. This time, it is real. And this time the United States is not going to retreat. Americans have learned the lessons of this century--America can and will remain a European power. We are here, and shall remain, to support democracy and free enterprise and to support the entry of the nations of Central Europe into the institutions of Europe--the European Union, NATO, the OECD, and the Council of Europe.

Tomorrow, the foreign ministers of NATO will meet in the Netherlands for their regular semi-annual session. On Wednesday, they will be joined by the foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council--the NACC--including the foreign minister of Hungary and his counterparts from other countries in Central Europe and most of the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. They will reaffirm NATO's commitment to make careful yet steady progress toward enlargement of NATO. Later this year, a special NATO team will offer in the capital of each of the 26 members of the Partnership for Peace a presentation on the "how" and the "why" of NATO enlargement. At the next NATO ministerial in December, we will evaluate the responses from each partner and decide how to proceed.

Russia's plans to proceed with the Partnership for Peace and to develop a relationship with NATO have been delayed since December. Its important decision to go ahead will open the door for an enhanced dialogue between Russia and NATO, which will proceed in parallel with the process of enlarging NATO.

Thus, the meeting that starts tomorrow in the Netherlands is an important step toward our goal: the creation of a stable security framework for post-Cold War Europe--one that provides stability and democracy in Central Europe while defining the role of Russia, which has been outside the European security structure since 1917, within that system.

The challenge we face is not unlike the one we faced, and met, in Western Europe 50 years ago. Within four years of the end of World War II, the U.S. and its allies had launched the Marshall Plan, established NATO and the GATT, and laid the foundations for what became the EU and the OECD.

As Secretary of State Warren Christopher has said,

These institutions helped produce unparalleled peace and prosperity for half a century--but only for half a continent.

Now we have the opportunity--indeed, the necessity--to extend this Europe of the institutions to the Europe of the map, to erase forever the dividing line created by the Red Army in the late spring of 1945.

America is committed to help build this future. The United States has been at the forefront of providing transition assistance to Central Europe and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. Since 1989, U.S. assistance to Central Europe has totaled over $10 billion--a very visible vote of confidence for the historic changes taking place.