Izjavi dr. Dimitrija Rupla, ministra za zunanje zadeve in dr. Edgarja Buckleya,
pomočnika generalnega sekretarja NATO za obrambno načrtovanje in operacije
Ljubljana, 15. februar 2002
Dr. Dimitrij Rupel: Lep pozdrav vsem skupaj. Danes je naš gost na
zunanjem ministrstvu dr. Edgar Buckley, pomočnik generalnega
sekretarja NATO za obrambno načrtovanje in operacije. Gospod Buckley
je voditelj izvedenske skupine NATO, ki je na obisku pri nas med 11.
in 15. februarjem 2002. V tej skupini je petnajst članov. Namen obiska
je bil podrobna proučitev izvajanja nalog, opredeljenih v Letnem
nacionalnem programu za izvajanje Akcijskega načrta za članstvo
Republike Slovenije v NATO, za obdobje 2001-2002 in v okviru procesa
načrtovanja in ocenjevanja. V tem procesu Slovenija sodeluje že od
leta 1996. Obisk skupine sodi v okvir ugotavljanja dejstev in
ocenjevanja doseženega napredka. Takšno ugotavljanje dejstev NATO
izvaja enkrat letno v vseh državah kandidatkah. Strokovnjaki NATO so
proučili dokumentacijo, so pripravili pripombe, imeli so celo vrsto
delovnih srečanj, pogovorov s predstavniki 13 slovenskih ministrstev,
6 uradov in služb, in so navedbe oziroma, materiale, ki so jih v teh
uradih in ministrstvih pripravljali tudi preverjali.
Največ pozornosti je bilo namenjeno izvajanju procesa
prestrukturiranja oboroženih sil, zakonskim določilom, ki urejajo
različna področja povezana z našim članstvom v NATO, zagotavljanju
finančnih sredstev v proračunu, različnim varnostnim vprašanjem in
uresničevanju posameznih partnerskih ciljev. Sicer je izvedenska
skupina delovala po sklopih: politični sklop, ekonomski sklop,
varnostni in obrambni sklop ter pravni in ustavni sklop. Tu pri nas
smo govorili o političnem in pravnem sklopu. Torej, ko gre za
Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve, so bili naši pogovori omejeni, nismo
pogovarjali o tankih in topovih.
Na osnovi dejstev in na osnovi zbranih informacij bo izvedenska
skupina lahko izdelala neko preliminarno oceno in na to oceno bo
seveda slovenska stran lahko dala pripombe. Ta ocena bo obravnavana in
sprejeta na zasedanju politično vojaškega usmerjevalnega odbora NATO
11. marca 2002 v Bruslju. Na tej podlagi bo NATO pripravil poročilo o
napredku Slovenije na vseh petih področjih Akcijskega načrta za
članstvo za obdobje 2001 - 2002, ki ga bo Severnoatlantski svet
obravnaval 9. aprila 2002 na sedežu zveze. Omenjenega zasedanja se
bova udeležila tudi dr. Grizold, minister za obrambo in jaz. Seveda
je ocena, ki bo narejena na podlagi tega obiska, ocena dejanske
pripravljenosti za članstvo v NATO, bo eden ključnih dejavnikov pri
odločanju, ali bo na vrhu NATO v Pragi novembra 2002 Slovenija
povabljena v članstvo NATO ali pa ne. Lahko rečem, da sem na
današnjem pogovoru z dr. Buckleyem imel vtis, da so bili pogovori
uspešni. Bili so vsekakor zelo konstruktivni in informativni. Kolikor
sem lahko razbral iz svojega pogovora z gospodom Buckleyem, je bil v
letu, ki je minilo, narejen napredek predvsem na varnostnem področju,
seveda to velja tudi za politično in ekonomsko področje. Mislim, da so
si strokovnjaki NATO v času svojega obiska ustvarili mnenje, da
Slovenija resno in prizadevno uresničuje zastavljene naloge iz
tretjega cikla Akcijskega načrta za članstvo in da je Slovenija
kredibilna kandidatka, ki pričakuje povabilo za članstvo na vrhu v
Pragi.
Posebej bi rad poudaril še to, da sva z dr. Buckleyem govorila o
nekaterih aktualnih vprašanjih, ki se sprožajo pri nas, v Sloveniji, v
zvezi z referendumom. Govorila sva o raznih razpravah v javnosti, vse
to pa sva skušala videti in pregledati v kontekstu dveh
vprašanj. Vprašanja interesov Slovenije, gre za interes Slovenije, da
postane članica zavezništva NATO, in v luči vprašanja našega
poslanstva, naše udeležbe v mednarodnih odnosih. Gre za poslanstvo
vsake države, ki želi biti aktiven dejavnik v mednarodnih
odnosih. Slovenija ni samo uživalec oziroma, potrošnik varnosti, ampak
mora k varnosti tudi prispevati. Slovenija ima posebno poslanstvo na
področju Jugovzhodne Evrope, kar dokazujemo z mnogimi svojimi
aktivnostimi, od našega sklada za razminiranje, naše organizacije za
pomoč otrokom, ki so bili prizadeti v vojnah, v zvezi z našim
angažiranjem v SFOR in KFOR, v zvezi z našim sodelovanjem v Paktu
stbilnosti, itn., itn. Kot sem razumel, so bila sporočila, ki smo jih
dali v Sloveniji, razumljena, sprejeta z razumevanjem. Zdaj bi pa
prosil dr. Bakleya, da še on pove s svoje strani, kako on občuti
situacijo, v kateri smo. Dr Buckley ?
Dr. Edgar Buckley: Thank you very much Dr Rupel. It's a great
pleasure for me to be in Slovenia. As Dr. Rupel explained I am here
leading a NATO expert team which is looking and discussing with
Slovenia its progress in Slovenia's Action Plan towards membership in
NATO. This Action plan covers political aspects, economic aspects,
legal aspects and constitutional aspects, security and defence
matters. Dr. Rupel has very well explained the process which we are
taking part in. This visit is the basis of a report, which will be
discussed and agreed with Slovenia. And this report will provide the
key informational basis for the political decision, which will be
taken in Prague in respect of Slovenia's desire to join
NATO. Therefore our first duty is to make sure that we understand the
position and we get the facts right. From that point of view this
visit has been extremely successful. We have had frank discussions,
very informative discussions and I think we understand very well now
the position in Slovenia. I can certainly confirm what Dr. Rupel said
about the progress, which had been made by Slovenia in all the areas
that I mentioned before: political, economic, legal and
constitutional, security and defence. Of course the work is not
finished, it's not easy to transform a society, transform the organs
of a state, transform the defence structure of a country to make it
ready for NATO membership. This is a difficult task. But as I said a
good deal of progress has been made and I think the report will
reflect that. So far as the other points, which Dr Rupel mentioned, I
agree that NATO membership for Slovenia is not only a question what
NATO can provide to assist Slovenia's security, but also what Slovenia
can do to assist European security through NATO. And I believe the
record shows that Slovenia does have a vacation to play its proper
part in that effort. Your work in support of the Stability Pact, the
initiatives you have taken on demining, your contribution to the peace
support operations in Bosnia and in Kosovo - all these points indicate
clearly where Slovenia sees its vacation. So, I want to thank you
dr. Rupel for one of the very important and very constructive
discussions and we'll take back this information to Bruselss, and
we'll work with you between now and the summit in Prague, and we'll
work after Prague to secure Slovenia's proper place in Europe. Thank
you very much.
Nadja Podobnik (STA): Based on your visit in Slovenia, what do you
think Slovenia's priorities should be in the months before the Prague
summit?
Dr. Edgar Buckley: Well, I think this is largely a question of
keeping the effort going in all the areas that I mentioned. As I said
before, a lot of progress has been made. We need to keep it up.
Blaž Zgaga (Večer): Ali lahko podate skupno oceno pripravljenosti
Slovenije za vstop v NATO s šolsko oceno od ena do pet?
Dr. Edgar Buckley: A said earlier it's not an easy thing to make
all the necessary preparations to join NATO. If you talk to those
allies that have joined NATO most recently, the Czech Republic,
Hungary and Poland they will tell you that even now they haven't
completed the task of transformation. So, one needs to keep all this
work in perspective. It takes a long time, particularly in the defence
area these changes take a long time to introduce. But I don't think
anyone's expecting that by November each candidate country must be
perfectly ready to join NATO in December. It won't be like that. It's
a question of assessing the progress and seeing how ready a country is
in relation to the next few years.
Uroš Slak (TV Slovenija): Zanima me kako ocenjujete pripravljenost
oziroma potek profesionalizacije Slovenske vojske? Ali je program kot
ga je predstavilo Ministrstvo za obrambo - časovni razmik popolne
profesionalizacije Slovenske vojske - sprejemljiv za NATO, ali menite,
da bi bilo treba to popolno profesionalizacijo Slovenske vojske
narediti prej ?
Dr. Edgar Buckley: The key point for us when we look at any
country's defence plans is to assist the realism. If I may say so, all
the countries that NATO deals with, who were formerly within communist
regimes have had a weakness with this sort of planning. They tended to
have plans which were very nice to look at, but not very easy to
implement because they're not supported by proper resources, they are
not properly costed, they are not properly implemented. And I think I
could mention fifteen, sixteen, seventeen countries that had that
problem. Slovenia was no exception. What happened over the last year,
is the big effort to improve the realism of Slovenia's defence plans,
so the important point is - are they now realistic. We believe that
they are much more realistic than they were and you need to look at
professionalism to be in that context. It is not the question of
whether you would like professional army tomorrow, it's a question of
deriving a plan which would produce what you want. In this case,
professionalism, over a period of time. That's all I would say.
Dr. Dimitrij Rupel: Hvala lepa vsem skupaj.
Dr. Edgar Buckley: Thank you very much.
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