23 February 2009 – NATO PA SECRETARY GENERAL DAVID HOBBS WELCOMES ADRIATIC CHARTER PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION

Sharing a platform with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Jozefina Topalli, and US Ambassador to Albania, John L. Withers, Mr Hobbs said that parliaments must play a part in Euro-Atlantic integration and that “international parliamentary cooperation is an indispensable complement to intergovernmental cooperation.”

“Parliamentarians,” he said, “are central to the functioning of the Alliance ” citing their role in approving defence budgets, authorizing the use of national forces in operations, and ratifying treaties.

Stressing the importance of “parliamentary diplomacy” he noted that “parliamentarians are particularly well equipped to promote the Alliance ’s principles and ideas, and to explain them in parts of the world where NATO’s image still seems to be based on outdated Cold War stereotypes…  Furthermore, parliamentarians are at the crucial interface between policy and the public.  They can be a “two-way-street”, helping to explain NATO’s roles and missions to the public, and transmitting public concerns both to NATO authorities and to their parliamentary colleagues from other countries.”

He noted that the experience of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly over the last two decades had shown that international contacts between parliamentarians provided key support for the reform process by calling upon Assembly members’ “wealth of expertise in parliamentary institutions, mechanisms for democratic oversight, and appropriate civil-military relations.”

Although the path to Euro-Atlantic integration could be a long one, Mr Hobbs said that the journey itself was rewarding.  “The reforms needed to reach the ultimate destination are worthwhile in themselves… and will be felt well before the full integration process is complete.”

He underlined that the Assembly had long been a champion of NATO enlargement, and had consistently taken the view that NATO enlargement threatened no-one and added to everyone’s security and stability.  NATO nations make good neighbours.  “But even while calling for broad and early enlargement, the Assembly’s members have stressed that NATO membership must be performance based, awarded as a result of demonstrated achievement and not just aspirations.”

In closing, he said that the conference, organized by the Albanian Parliament and attended by Adriatic Charter parliamentarians indicated the commitment to make those aspirations a reality.

Click here for the full speech