Aspiring NATO Member
Slovenia Revamps Its Security Policies In Anticipation Of An Invitation To Join NATO
April 2002, Armed Forces Journal
Having not been invited to join NATO during the 1997 Madrid Summit
of the Alliance's heads of state and government, Slovenia is setting
its sights on the Prague Summit to be held next November, which is
expected to launch the next round of NATO enlargement. The small
Alpine republic has adopted a Western-style security policy and is
building up its military virtually from scratch.
In an exclusive interview with AFJI, Slovenian Defense Minister
Anton Grizold explained the steps his country has taken and why
Slovenia should be invited to join NATO the second time
around. "Our parliament very clearly adopted NATO membership as
our primary goal along with European Union membership as early as
1995-1996," he said. "All our political parties supported
this, so the government of Slovenia in February 1998 endorsed a
national strategy for NATO Membership ŠandĆ all the parties that
support Slovenian NATO membership won the last elections Šin 2000Ć so
we can say that political support is very high."
Public opinion
"We also have quite significant public support for this,"
Grizold added, although he conceded it is "not overwhelmingly
high." Public support for NATO membership increased from 42
percent in 1994 to nearly 60 percent in 1999. "In 2000-2001, we
measured a slight decrease to 48 percent, but it is very important to
know that all political parties within the parliament fully support
NATO membership."
The Slovenian government is conducting an information campaign to
boost this flagging support over the 50 percent mark. Grizold said:
"We are doing our best to inform our public about the role and
mission of NATO and about Slovenian national defense. We need to take
a step down to the people and just very simply explain to them why
NATO is so efficient as a military-political organization, as a
Euro-Atlantic regional organization for collective defense, and what
we are doing with our national defense reform."
He outlined the elements of the campaign: information on Ministry
of Defense (MoD), Foreign Ministry, and government web sites;
roundtable discussions around the country; the placement of articles
in newspapers; and an internal and external debate by
parliament. Grizold has participated in some of the roundtable
discussions, which are easier to organize "since Slovenia is not
as big a country as the United States."
Small is beautiful
This small size, and the fact that it is building its military
virtually from scratch, give Slovenia an advantage compared to other
NATO aspirants. "We are in the process of building our national
security structure, mechanisms, instruments, institutions," said
Grizold, which is "easier than bringing fundamental changes to
systems, downsizing the defense and military complex, and changes to
the practices of years."
September 11th did not bring dramatic changes, according to
Grizold, who explained that even beforehand, "Our guiding
principle was defense capabilities in capital letters. And we want
them to be mobile, efficient, and deployable military capabilities
that would contribute to crisis management and collective defense. The
Alliance is the goal of our reform, and the threats of terrorism have
only confirmed our goal."
However, what did change, Grizold said, "is the awareness that
security is not and cannot be cheap. So our reforms must go on. Words
and good intentions are not enough. What I see as an effective
response will be the change in a way to operationalize the fight
against the evil of terrorism. We will need very coordinated work of
military intelligence, police, judiciary, and other organs as well as
civil emergency and civil protection systems. Military capabilities
will support the efforts of civil defense and not vice versa."
Good mix
Slovenian military manpower is provided by a mix of professionals
and conscripts. "We are searching for the best ratio," said
Grizold, referring to two studies on the issue. "I'm sure the
findings of those two studies will help us find the optimum model for
Slovenia in the future." He said that Slovenia is already
changing the mix by increasing the number of professional soldiers and
downsizing the reserve component.
Under the country's strategic defense review, the Slovenian armed
forces will be reduced to 26,000, of which 25 percent will be
professionals by 2010.
Top priority has been given to forces that have been assigned for
participation in NATO-led Partnership for Peace and collective defense
operations, Grizold explained, citing the example of the
"accelerated equipping and manning of the 10th Motorized
Battalion," which "will be manned, equipped, and trained
completely by the end of 2002." Other battalions will follow,
beginning with the 20th Motorized Battalion.
Common values
The ultimate goal, as laid out by Grizold, is "to build a
solid, functioning, rational and, of course, not too expensive
national defense system." And he finds the answer in NATO:
"Being a part of a functioning responsible alliance, which, of
course, NATO has proved to be, can do that most effectively. It is
imperative to be part of the most important organizations and not to
be left out. There is no single country in the world that can ensure
its national security for itself. What we have in common with NATO
nations is respect for the same set of values."
Downplaying the geopolitical arguments Slovenian membership in
NATO, Grizold stated: "The most important reason should be that
we want to cooperate and we want to contribute and we are willing to
bear the cost of doing that. That's the most important reason to
invite Slovenia to be a viable partner of NATO nations. But, of
course, the decision will be a political one-we know that-but should
take into consideration our will, our preparedness, our practical
contribution."
He cited, as an example, Slovenia's contribution to establishing
peace and security in Southeastern Europe. At last December's meeting
for Euro Atlantic Partnership Council defense ministers, Grizold
announced Slovenia's intention to increase its contingent in the
Balkans. Some 97 percent of the 134 personnel Slovenia contributes to
peace-support operations-112 military and 22 civilian police-are
deployed in the Balkans. Starting in May, Slovenia will make a
motorized infantry company available to NATO's Stabilization Force
(SFOR) in Bosnia. Furthermore, with "our historical and cultural
background, we think we can also greatly contribute to a better
understanding of the problems, and consequently to a swifter or at
least more rational solution of the security issues in our vicinity,
in South Eastern Europe," Grizold added. "We will bring to
ŠNATOĆ the experience and expertise in the area that NATO is very
concerned about in these last years." BETTER PREPARED Grizold
strongly believes that Slovenia is definitely better prepared now than
it was in the past for NATO membership. "In general, I would say
that Slovenia has made significant progress in strengthening democracy
and the development and performance of civil society and political
institutions. Slovenia is a newly established state, so we managed to
develop our statehood in 10 years quite well."
Relations with neighboring countries, namely Croatia, are
"much better" now than they were before the Madrid Summit
and the Washington Summit launched the Membership Action Plan (MAP),
Grizold stressed. "MAP is very important for Slovenia and I
believe for all post-Socialist countries. We consider the MAP process
the main mechanism and tool not only for the preparations for NATO
membership but most of all for carrying out our defense reform, which
will establish the defense system that Slovenia needs for itself first
of all." He also described as "very important" the
extended dialogue and consultations with NATO, such as advice from
experts of its integrated structure, and respective member states
through the MAP and PARP ŠPlanning and Review ProcessĆ, which have
influenced Slovenia "in a very, very positive way."
Risk reassessment
"Slovenia finally reassessed threats and risks after the
significant changes in its immediate neighborhood," he said,
"and our parliament endorsed a new national security strategy,
which is very important-this is the basic document of the state. And a
more proper task analysis was made with a costing of its military
tasks in order to be certain that we can afford them within the
planned budget."
A new defense strategy was also approved by the government in
December. "The Slovenian parliament adopted a new long-term
program for developing and equipping the Slovenian armed forces,"
he said. The previous one proved to be, in significant parts,
unrealistic and unachievable so we needed to correct it.
"The parliament also passed a two-year budget, which is of
extreme importance for national defense and the MoD, and the
parliament also approved the extension of the arms and military assets
procurement act Šunder aĆ special funding arrangement for the period
from 2003 up to 2007. This is regarded as a stable source of funding
for the Slovenian armed forces, supplementing defense expenditure out
of the regular budget." As a result, Grizold was able to forecast
defense spending rising from 1.46 percent of Gross Domestic Product,
of $270 million in 2001, to 1.5 percent of GDP or $300 million this
year, to around 1.63 percent of GDP in 2005.
He also stressed the importance of reducing the civilian part of
the Slovenian MoD, which began in January 2002 and "will be made
possible with the reorganization of the entire public administration
of the Republic of Slovenia." Civil service reform is one of the
criteria for EU membership.
Common awareness
Grizold noted that there is greater awareness in all institutions
of what membership in NATO might mean for the whole country. "The
political perspective has switched from working on receiving an
invitation as political prestige only, toward real preparations for
membership in order to become a real and credible ally. We clearly
understand now that the defense system needs reform for our own sake
and in this context we are striving for quality, which will make our
membership in NATO credible. We are determined to implement our plans
not only because of NATO but because of ourselves."
Grizold is therefore optimistic: "Slovenia will receive an
invitation from NATO in Prague, but I am even more convinced that we
will conduct the planned restructuring even more intensively."
Nicholas Fiorenza
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