Slovenia Most Welcome in NATO, Robertson Says
Visit of Prime Minister Tone Rop at EU and NATO Headquaters in Brussels, 10 February 2003
Slovenia will be a most welcome member in NATO and will play an
important role in ensuring stability and security in a wider Euro-
Atlantic area, said Alliance's Secretary General George Robertson in a
discussion with Slovenia's PM Anton Rop in Brussels. Robertson is
also convinced that the importance and the benefits of the membership
will be recognised by the Slovenian voters at the NATO referendum on
23 March.
"In the first year of membership, i.e. in 2004, Slovenia will
contribute EUR 1.6m (to the NATO budget), and in 2005 EUR 2.5m,"
Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop revealed. These funds will actually
go to three NATO budgets, namely the civil and the military budgets
and the investment programmes. We expect to get a great share of funds
from the last one, so that revenues received will actually exceed
those allocated for NATO, the prime minister explained. The share
earmarked by Slovenia will be very small compared to the entire NATO
budget. It will account for 0.26 percent of the civil budget, 0.3
percent of the military budget and 0.26 percent of funds in investment
programmes. All three NATO budgets amount to around EUR 1.4bn
annually. Slovenia's contribution to NATO, which was disclosed today
for the first time, will be much lower than initially announced. As
late as January, Slovenia's estimates were at five million euros
annually. The first year contribution will be lower also because
Slovenia is expected to join the Alliance in May so it will not pay
the full annual membership fee.
NATO membership is an important business and few countries are so
well aware of it as Slovenia, whose independence and stability is
connected with the Alliance's actions of 1999 in solving the conflict
in former Yugoslavia and in removing the horrible consequences it had
for the region, Robertson stressed. In a few weeks, the Slovenian
people will weigh the decision of the government to join NATO and I
hope they will decide with prudence and maturity they possess, the
secretary general added. The benefits of the membership are
numerous. Slovenia will become a member of the most successful
military alliance in the world, a member of a community which thinks
freely and shares common values, it will get a chance to co- operate
in the formation of common security in the future, Robertson
explained. It is true that the Alliance has its differences of
opinions, which is now clearly shown by the Iraqi crisis, but at the
end of the day an agreement is always reached, Robertson believes. He
intends to repeat that message at the begining of March, when he is to
visit Slovenia. The Iraqi crisis is actually one of the arguments for
Slovenia's membership in NATO, PM Rop believes. "The current
negotiations in NATO on the protection of Turkey in the event of a war
with Iraq are a good proof of how even a small country can have an
important influence in NATO," Rop said, touching on Belgium's
veto. "No matter what problems this might cause, the Alliance has
democratic foundations and reaches solutions in consensus," Rop
said. "At the same time this is proof that NATO is a long-term
assurance of complete security by all its members," he added. As
for the Iraqi crisis, Slovenia's stance is clear - Slovenia supports
any solution passed by the United Nations or the Security Council,
state Rop, who believes that the country has over the past couple of
days clearly expressed that stance. "The statement of the foreign
ministers of the Vilnius group clearly states that the Security
Council will take the final decision on Iraq," Rop
added. "Moreover, Slovenia also backed EU's declaration on the
matter."
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