FLORENCE, May 24 (Hina) - Croatia's admission to the Partnership for Peace Programme is a message to the people in Serbia that there is a place for them if they cast off the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, said NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson in Florence on Wednesday.
FLORENCE, May 24 (Hina) - Croatia's admission to the Partnership
for Peace Programme is a message to the people in Serbia that there
is a place for them if they cast off the regime of Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, said NATO Secretary-General George Robertson
in Florence on Wednesday.#L#
Croatia is the confirmation that a country does not have to remain a
victim of history - this can be changed and move forward. When a
country does such choice we are ready to award it and give incentive
to its progress, Robertson told a news conference after the
completion of NATO member-countries' foreign ministers' session.
NATO Secretary-General added that it was more and more difficult
for such a message to reach the Serbian people as Milosevic was
systematically closing media that were not in accordance to his
will.
He can close television stations, but cannot close the common sense
of the Serbian people, Robertson told reporters.
He added that Wednesday's session had revolved around the
Alliance's future role.
NATO needs an increasingly stronger European identity, Robertson
said welcoming all steps the European Union has taken in recent
months in order to set up structures for tackling the defence
issues. In this context, Robertson thought about an European
initiative to establish 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force by 2003
that will intervene in crisis spots on the Continent.
The Briton added that the objective of his mandate is to occupy all
European countries at the same table together with NATO.
Tomorrow's example is good when Croatia enters the Partnership for
Peace and becomes the 46th member of the EuroAtlantic partnership
council. Imagine what it means - almost all European countries are
now sitting at the same table with NATO, cooperating rather than
having conflicts among themselves, NATO Secretary-General said.
Robertson expressed pleasure with the fact that the relations
between NATO and Russia were being improved, which had been frozen
since the Allies' air strikes against Serbia.
On Wednesday afternoon the NATO Permanent Joint Council is in
session and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is taking part in
it.
(hina) jn ms