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INTERVIEW WAITING FOR NATO

CZECH FOREIGN MINister Josef Zieleniec will host a meeting this week between U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and leaders from12 Central and East European nations. Christopher, who after his Prague stopover then heads to Moscow, will hear much talk of Central Europe's fears that NATO expansion will be de­layed (or derailed, as Moscow would like). Zieleniec discussed that topic, and his country's prospects for entry into the Eu­ropean Union, last week in Prague with Newsweeks Peter Green. Excerpts:

impact on the situation inside these coun­tries, creating a disillusionment with post-communist reform] and heightening inter­national tensions.

Are you saying that NATO membership may be less important than not offending the Rus­sians—in order to maintain domestic stabil­ity in Russia?

I wouldn't say so. The fact that the security interests of the West are not clearly defined in this part of Europe represents a chal­lenge —or a temptation—for many forces in Russia... to re­gard this space as an object of negotiations with the West. The sooner the West decides and the quicker NATO is expanded, the better it will be for world stability. This will end the ner­vousness in Russia and it will end the illusion that [Central Europe's security] is something that is open for discussion.

Could the Czechs accept condi­tions on their NATO membership, say, for example, as Russia has hinted, a ban on stationing nu­clear weapons or Western troops on Czech territory?

We want to become full mem­bers of the alliance with not a place without us. The current discus­sion between the West and Russia [about NATO expan­sion] is a discussion in which we are equal partners. The tim­ing is also important because it is obvious that Russia has carefully reconsidered Eu­ropean security and security architecture.

When Russian President Boris Yeltsin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met recently in Moscow, Kohl appeared to agree with Yel-stin that NATO enlargement ought not to be hurried. Does this worry you? NATO expansion was the issue on which Russia and Germany did not reach full un­derstanding. Enlargement this year was not on the agenda. But we have known this for a considerable period of time.

Are the United States and Western Europe paying enough attention to the potential se­curity problems of the Czech Republic and its neighbors?

Look at the map. You can see that the secu­rity of the Czech Republic and the security of Western Europe are so closely related that it is safe to say they are identical. When we in the Czech Republic speak about NATO enlargement and the subsequent se­curity architecture of Europe, it is because we feel that it is important for the security of the whole continent... I am convinced that according to this logic, we should be­long to the countries that will accede in the first stage of enlargement.

Has the slow pace of NATO expansion contrib­uted to regional instability?

The key risks to stability and security in Europe are linked to internal tensions in individual countries more than to East-West tensions. But of course, postponing discussion of integrating these countries into Western structures artificially pro­longs the life of the dividing line that was the Iron Curtain. That can have a strong

know that accession to NATO means our security will be stronger than if we were not members of NATO. But the terms of membership will be discussed with member states as a part of the expansion nego­tiations, not with any third par­ties. They are subject to mutual agreement but they are not sub­ject to any preliminary conditions.

Once it looked as if the Central European Four—Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and Slo­vaks—would work together to enter the Eu­ropean Union. Now it looks more like a race to get in before the door is shut. The main way to continue our integration into the EU is for us to complete our own reforms. This is the problem—not who will be first and who will be fastest. It's the supreme interest of not only the Czech Re­public but of the EU that the EU should evolve towards the East.

Vaclav Klaus has criticized the EU's way of con­ducting its affairs. Will that hurt your chances?

There is a house being built and at some point we will live in that house, so we have the right to say what we think about it. We are saying it.

NEWSWEEK MARCH 25, 2004

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