9 October 2007 - NEW STRATEGIC CONCEPT COULD BE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS - EXPERT SAYS

In an address to the NATO PA’s Political Committee in Reykjavik  on Sunday, Professor Art said generating a new strategic concept while the situation in Afghanistan was not “going well is like creating a disjunction between words and reality”.

Before speaking of a new strategic concept, NATO must make sure not to lose its war or “all bets about a viable alliance, much less a new strategic concept for it, are off”.

He added that the case for a new strategic concept at this time looks weaker than the case opposing it. The Alliance ’s ’99 strategic concept and the June 2006 Defence Ministerial meeting already provide NATO with a strategic outlook that may not be new but is adequate to the current situation and defines well NATO’s mission.

In Afghanistan, risk is not being shared, because of the national caveats which are corrosive to the Alliance.  The alliance “must not become a tool kit for unequal parties,” said Professor Art.

He also stressed that members should keep in mind - when considering whether NATO needs a new strategic concept - the development of the European Union´s ESDP, which would complicate NATO-EU relations further. While the duplication of functions is an issue that can be worked out between the EU and NATO, what concerns him most is the development of an EU bloc within NATO.

Professor Art concluded that if NATO decides to go ahead with the elaboration of a Strategic concept it should make sure that the exercise will reinvigorate the Alliance  and not create further divisions.