The present NATO agenda contains a key issue: extending membership to countries of the East. NATO summit leaders in January 1994 spoke of expecting and welcoming NATO expansion, and President Clinton has said NATO expansion was "no longer a question of whether, but when and how." Accepting the President's conclusion, this paper makes three assessments of NATO expansion then offers certain recommendations:
In the nearly 50 years since the end of World War II, several agreements and institutions related to European security have emerged and evolved. France and the United Kingdom banded together in the Dunkirk Treaty of 1946, which led in 1948 to an expanded Brussels Treaty, and later, in 1954, to the Western European Union (WEU). West European cooperation focused more, however, on economic relations, leading to establishment of the European Community, now the European Union (EU). The EU is now broadening its horizon beyond economics to consider a "Common Foreign and Security Policy," and efforts have been undertaken to develop a "European Security and Defense Identity" and to revitalize the WEU and develop a "Common Defense Policy."
Post World War II trans-Atlantic security arrangements were formally set in 1949 when states in Western European and the United States and Canada concluded the North Atlantic Treaty and established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In the preamble to the Treaty, parties expressed their determination to "safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law"; stated their intent to "seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area"; and resolved to "unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security". NATO, the EU, and the WEU have expanded over the years to take in new West European countries (see appendix A).
In May 1955, the Warsaw Treaty Organization (the Warsaw Pact) was established for the express purpose of promoting mutual defense among the Soviet Union and seven states of Eastern Europe. Albania withdrew in 1968, and the German Democratic Republic withdrew in 1990. Beginning in 1989, revolutionary changes in Central and Eastern Europe and changes in the Soviet Union led to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact on 1 July 1991. The organization that Moscow created in 1949 for international economic cooperation among Warsaw Pact members as well as other states the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (often called CEMA, CMEA, or Comecon) was dissolved in January 1991.
In 1973, the first East-West institution, with 35 members, was established in the form of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which, now grown to 53 members, was renamed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in January 1995. OSCE fosters security and cooperation in the area of human rights, economic cooperation, and security cooperation.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS quickly expanded, and today the new independent states that were republics in the former Soviet Union are all members of the CIS, with the exception of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which have not sought CIS membership The CIS deals with political, economic, and security cooperation.
Following the revolutionary changes in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during 1989-1991, NATO, the EU, and the WEU developed outreach programs to the East. NATO established the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) in 1991 and the Partnership for Peace (PFP) Program in 1994. NATO's outreach programs have been extended to most all states of Central and Eastern Europe (except some states in the former Yugoslavia) and the CIS. In contrast, the WEU and EU have been more exclusive, particularly in focusing on Central and Eastern Europe and avoiding or restricting their outreach programs to states of the CIS, Albania, and states that were part of the former Yugoslavia (see appendix B).
Now in its 46th year, NATO was established in 1949 to promote the goals established in the preamble to the North Atlantic Treaty. The North Atlantic Council is the senior body and meets regularly at the permanent representative level, twice a year at the foreign minister level, and occasionally at the level of heads of government and state. Defense ministers meet regularly twice a year. The NATO Military Committee meets in permanent session with military representatives, and chiefs of staffs of most members meet twice a year. There are many other committees and an integrated military command structure.
The future of NATO is currently being discussed at two levels. At a broad level, scholars and analysts are asking some basic questions about the purpose of NATO. Some point to the absence of a direct military threat to NATO and raise questions about NATO's direct defense mission. Some question the broadening of NATO's mission, particularly the expectations created by NATO in 1991 when the Rome NATO Summit and the new Alliance Strategic Concept called for NATO to promote stability throughout the trans-Atlantic region; in this regard, they raise a number of problems regarding NATO and the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Others raise the issue of the purpose of NATO when they discuss outreach programs to the East and possible NATO expansion. The overall issue has sometimes boiled down to "collective defense" or "collective security" whether NATO should focus on collective defense, as emphasized in the preamble and Articles 3-6 of the North Atlantic Treaty, or be transformed into or become part of a collective security arrangement (in support of the goal in the Treaty's preamble of seeking "to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area").
At the more operational, government or bureaucratic level, NATO is addressing several key issues. NATO's outreach programs to the East the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC), the Partnership for Peace (PFP) program, and the possible expansion of NATO membership, often called NATO enlargement, are addressed in greater detail later.
Other key issues being addressed in NATO include development of the European defense pillar, concentrating on West European integration and cooperation, and further development of the trans-Atlantic relationship between Europe and North America. These issues are often addressed conceptually in work toward a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI), a Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, and the Common Defense Policy of the Western European Union. The WEU is often seen as the embodiment of the European defense pillar.
The relationship between NATO and the WEU is an important issue, as is the development in NATO and the WEU of the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) concept, which focuses on organizing multiservice forces from two or more countries primarily for peace operations presumably outside the traditional NATO area. A CJTF could operate under the auspices of NATO or the WEU and could involve not only forces of allies but also forces of PFP partners from Central and Eastern Europe, West European "neutrals," and the CIS. In addressing the issues involved in developing a European pillar, WEU, and CJTF, there is general agreement that forces of European allies committed to NATO should be "separable" from NATO but not "separate" from NATO. NATO itself is reviewing its missions and the organization of its integrated military structure.
Conflict in the Balkans is another issue in NATO. NATO allies, along with Russia and other states supporting UN efforts, are attempting to help resolve or at least contain the conflict in the Balkans. Allies have provided humanitarian assistance and airlift; some allies have deployed forces on the ground in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or have deployed ground forces in Macedonia as a deterrent; NATO and the WEU have conducted maritime interdiction operations in the Adriatic under Operation Sharp Guard in support of UN economic and arms sanctions, and NATO has conducted Operation Deny Flight to prevent use of military aircraft by forces fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Four allies the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany along with Russia have established an International Contact Group to promote a negotiated settlement to end the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In early 1995, NATO announced a new initiative to engage certain states in North Africa in a dialogue on Mediterranean security. In discussing the initiative, NATO Secretary General Willy Claes has said: "For the time being, we are still analyzing the problems with regard to fundamentalism, which are closely connected to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. It is a new mission for NATO."[note #1] The initiative appears related to concerns expressed particularly by France, Italy, and Spain.
It should be noted that in addition to formal NATO programs and activities, individual member states of NATO are engaged in a wide range of bilateral relations and activities with other NATO allies and with other countries in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.
The European Union has been striving to deepen integration within the EU and expand its membership simultaneously. The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 committed EU members to deepen their integration in terms of creating a single market. The EU, also attempting to develop a Common Foreign and Security Policy, is looking to the WEU to serve as the basis of the European defense pillar of NATO. The EU encompasses intergovernmental bodies including the decisionmaking Council of Ministers, which is assisted by a Committee of Permanent Representatives, and the European Council, which is a summit level body that meets 2-3 times a year; the EU also comprises supranational institutions, including the Commission, which administers policy decisions, and the European Parliament.
Even as it worked to deepen integration, the EU has pursued expansion of its membership. Three new members Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU in early 1995. Norway had signed a treaty of accession, but a public referendum rejected EU accession, so Norway is not expected to join the EU soon, if ever. With three new members, the EU comprises 15 members; with the expanded membership, four or 25 percent of EU members (Ireland, plus Austria, Finland, and Sweden) are states that have traditionally been described as "neutral." This could result in any EU "Common Foreign and Security Policy" being more independent of NATO and the U.S. than in the past.
Six states from Central and Eastern Europe Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia have signed "associate agreements" with the EU and hope eventually to accede to the EU by treaty. On 15 December 1994 the EU formally opened negotiations with the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on "associate agreements"; the EU Trade Commissioner has noted that the Baltic states will be treated the same way as the other six associate members when the negotiations are completed[note #2]. Additionally, Slovenia, Malta, and Cyprus might be invited to join. Addition of these 12 states would bring the number of EU members to 27[note #3]. Talks on membership between the EU and those states likely to be invited to join will not begin before the results are known of the 1996 EU Intergovernmental Conference, which will address major issues about the future of the EU[note #4].
At its summit meeting in Copenhagen in the summer of 1993, the EU formulated conditions that states would have to meet before being invited to join the EU. These were summarized as the existence of a parliamentary democracy with guaranteed human rights and basic rights for ethnic minorities, as well as existence of market economy structures able to survive in the EU[note #5].
Albania, perhaps because of its relatively poor economy and the fact that its population is primarily Muslim, has not been invited to sign an "associate agreement." None of the five new states of the former Yugoslavia has been invited to sign such an agreement.
Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova have signed "partnership and cooperation agreements" with the EU. There is little expectation at this time that these states will become members of the EU. None of the other states of the CIS have signed such agreements.
The WEU has been reinvigorated. It has moved its headquarters from London to Brussels and created a planning staff of some 50 officers. The WEU is working on creating a common defense policy. It has undertaken missions in the Adriatic Sea in connection with establishing an embargo on arms to parties fighting in the former Yugoslavia. The WEU, as well as NATO, is developing a concept for establishment and deployment of Combined Joint Task Forces, which would likely establish the basis for having available forces that are separable but not separate from NATO.
The WEU has also expanded, adding "observers," "associate members," and "associate partners." In December 1991, WEU member states, meeting in Maastricht at the time of the EU meeting, invited members of the EU to accede to the WEU or become observers and invited other European members of NATO to become associate members of the WEU[note #6]. In addition to the 10 full members of the WEU, Ireland and Denmark are "observers;" Iceland, Norway, and Turkey are "associate members;" and nine CEE states are "associate partners" Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. There are 24 states sitting at the table when, in approximately half the WEU meetings, all these states are invited to participate. Albania and the five states of the former Yugoslavia are the only ones from Central and Eastern Europe not invited.
The mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), established in 1973 as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), is to foster security and cooperation through programs related to press and culture, support for human rights, economic cooperation, conflict prevention, and military security. Since 1990 it has become increasingly institutionalized[note #7].
Some view OSCE as a valuable link among the 53 members and the alliances or groups to which they belong. Czech President Vaclav Havel, for example, has said that CSCE could contribute immensely to European security by providing a link for cooperation between NATO and other Western alliances on one side, and Russia or the Russian-led CIS on the other[note #8]. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, however, has suggested a more ambitious role for OSCE by observing it could be an umbrella for European security, supported by NATO and Russia.
CSCE was established in 1973 as part of a compromise between the Soviet Union and Western allies. The Soviet Union had proposed talks along the lines of what became CSCE, and NATO Allies had proposed negotiations on Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR) in Europe. East-West agreement was reached to begin both sets of talks in 1973. In August 1975, after 2 years of negotiations, 35 members of CSCE signed the Helsinki Final Act, described as a politically binding declaratory understanding of democratic principles governing relations among nations. The Act provided for continued discussions among parties on a broad range of issues, and talks have been held over the years in what is often called the "Helsinki process."
The number of participants in CSCE grew, particularly with the breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, from 35 to 53. Reflecting a decision taken at a summit meeting of heads of state and government in Budapest on 10-11 December, 1994, CSCE became on 1 January 1995 OSCE.
In recent years, OSCE states have undertaken to institutionalize the "Helsinki process," beginning with the signing of the Charter of Paris at the CSCE Summit in November 1990. A Council of Ministers, comprising foreign ministers, was established as the highest decisionmaking body. A subsidiary working group or executive body, the Committee of Senior Officials, was established at the ambassadorial or foreign ministry political director level. A Permanent Committee was established in 1993 in Vienna to handle day-to-day operational tasks; the Permanent Committee engages in consultation and takes decisions when the Committee of Senior Officials is not in session.
In addition to these policy-related bodies, the position of OSCE Secretary General and an OSCE Secretariat, located in Prague, have been established. A Parliamentary Assembly, composed of legislators from OSCE states, first met in July 1993. An Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which plays informational, educational, and review roles, and the position of High Commissioner on National Minorities, with a mandate to provide early warning and early action on relevant minority problems, have also been established.
An OSCE Conflict Prevention Center has been established in Vienna to oversee the sharing of data on military forces and to host meetings related to OSCE provisions on military activities. It is also to support implementation of the OSCE mechanism for peaceful settlement of disputes and provide support for OSCE diplomatic, conflict-resolution, and peacekeeping missions.
An OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation was established in 1992 as the only pan-European forum for security dialogue and arms control negotiations. This forum meets in semi-permanent session and has as part of its mandate the development of further confidence- and security-building measures, exchange of global military information, cooperation on non-proliferation, and cooperation on regional measures.
Under the auspices of OSCE, a system of confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) applying to the Europe area has been negotiated. CSBMs are intended to provide transparency and understanding about military forces and activities. The first set of negotiated CSBMs were included as part of the CSCE's 1975 Helsinki Final Act document. Further negotiations and agreement on CSBMs continued into the 1980s and early 1990s, and the present CSBM regime was agreed to in March 1992 as part of the CSCE "Vienna Document 1992," supplemented by additional measures agreed in preparation for the December 1994 CSCE Summit. Agreed CSBMs now include measures related to exchange of military information (data on personnel, force structure and training, weapons and equipment, and defense policies, doctrines, and budgets), risk reduction, military-to-military contacts, observers at specified military activities, exchange of military activity calendars, limitations on the frequency of large-scale military activities, evaluation and verification visits, an annual implementation assessment meeting, and enhancing the OSCE communications network.
CSCE/OSCE has also engaged in many endeavors to help prevent, ameliorate, or end conflicts in Europe.
In the former Yugoslavia, OSCE has sent fact-finding and rapporteur missions and supported U.N. and E.U. sanctions and humanitarian measures. OSCE also has sent missions to establish a presence and provide early warning of possible spillover of hostilities into the Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Sandzak regions of Serbia and Montenegro and into the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Missions have also been sent into Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to investigate alleged violations of OSCE principles. A preventive diplomacy mission has been established in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Stemming from a request from the August 1992 London Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, OSCE has sent missions to Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, FYROM, Ukraine, and Albania to assist in monitoring compliance with sanctions. A position of "Sanctions Coordinator" was created to oversee OSCE-EU sanctions missions in countries around Serbia and Montenegro. Regarding the situation in Chechnya, OSCE in early 1995 sent a mission to Moscow and Chechnya to look into a possible OSCE contribution to the observation of respect for human rights, the delivery of humanitarian aid, the restoration of constitutional order, and organization of free and fair elections in the Chechen Republic[note #9].
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was established in December 1991 in connection with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine were the original members, and later other former republics of the Soviet Union were invited to join. Georgia resisted joining but eventually appeared forced to join as the price for Russian assistance to Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze when his government was under attack by rebel forces in 1993. There are now 12 members of the CIS all the former republics of the Soviet Union except the Baltic states.
Russia has sought to increase the authority of the CIS and to gain international recognition for it as an institution. The CIS has a staff headquartered in Minsk, Belarus. Meetings at Ministerial and Head of State levels are held on occasion. CIS leaders deal with a range of political, economic, and military issues[note #10].
Immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet military essentially became the CIS military. When the other republics moved to set up their own armed forces and refused to subordinate them to a CIS Joint Command, Russia, in spring 1992, established its own military establishment[note #11]. The CIS military became primarily only a headquarters.
In August 1993, the CIS Council of Defense Ministers met to address an agenda of coordinating activity to improve defense capabilities, creation of a collective security system, and deepening of military cooperation. Russian Defense Minister Grachev was reported to have told the group that "no one should have doubts that the Russian Defence Ministry considers the establishment of combined armed forces of all interested states as the main and long-term goal of military cooperation[note #12]."
Also in August 1993, the Secretary of the CIS Defense Ministers' Council, Lt. Gen. Ivashov, emphasized the importance of the CIS in an interview and concluded with the statement, "If NATO is the guarantor of stability in Europe, why should the Treaty on Collective Security not become the same guarantor in the CIS? Let these two guarantors, collaborating with one another, ensure security and stability throughout the Eurasian continent."[note #13]
In late 1994, leaders of the 12 members states convened as the Council of the CIS Heads of State, where they reportedly discussed an agenda to "invigorate the processes of integration within the CIS." An Inter-State Economic Committee is being established to monitor and further CIS economic cooperation within the context of a "Eurasian common market."[note #14]
There are many other regional or subregional groupings in Europe, including groups with political, economic, security, and/or arms control and arms reductions mandates.[note #15] Organizations most relevant to security issues are discussed in some detail below.
Some groups, primarily economics-oriented ones, are limited in membership to a relatively small number of West European states, such as the Benelux Economic Union (3 members), the Nordic Council (5), the Nordic Investment Bank (5), the European Investment Bank (12), the European Space Agency (13 + 2 associate or cooperating states), and the European Free Trade Association (7 in 1994, but in flux).
Others have been primarily economics oriented and limited to West European and North American members but have included Japan (e.g., the G-7 or Big Seven, and at recent G-7 Summit meetings Russia has been invited to participate in some of the discussions) and the G-10 or Paris Club (11). Some of these are expanding beyond Western Europe, North America, and Japan to include other states in the world (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 25+1 special member, which now includes Australia and Mexico.
Others now include not only West European states but also Central and East European states and some members of the CIS, e.g., the Council of the Baltic Sea States (10 + 2 observers), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Zone (11 + 1 observer), the Central European Initiative (10 + 6 participating non-members), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (19 + 6 observers), the Economic Commission for Europe (54, including most CEE states and all members of the CIS except Tajikistan), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (58, including most CEE states and all members of CIS except Belarus.)
Beyond these organizations are several organizations or groups that deal with issues that are more security related.
The Council of Europe (COE), established in 1949 with a purpose of promoting increased unity and quality of life in Europe, currently has 33 members (including 9 from Central and Eastern Europe) and 8 "guest" states, from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, that have applied for membership and for whom accession procedures are underway. COE member states are "committed to pluralist and parliamentary democracy, the indivisibility and universality of human rights, the rule of law and a common cultural heritage enriched by its diversity." COE Summit leaders in October 1993 declared that the COE is "the pre-eminent European political institution capable of welcoming, on an equal footing, the democracies of Europe freed from Communist oppression." The COE Secretary General has stated that accession of these states to the COE is "a central factor in the process of European construction based on the Organization's values" and has indicated that the COE has a clear mandate to "exercise a policy of openness and cooperation vis-a-vis all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that opt for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law." The COE is active in setting standards and monitoring respect for human rights; promoting judiciary and law enforcement, training civil servants and lawyers, and aiding in democratic education; and helping to combat crime and drug abuse.[note #16]
Negotiations for force reductions in Europe have been held in Europe over the past two decades. Agreement to begin negotiations on Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR) and to establish CSCE in 1973 were worked out between East and West as an implicit quid pro quo. The two sets of discussions subsequently proceeded on separate tracks. MBFR talks involved all NATO allies and the seven members of the Warsaw Pact, a total of 23 states. These talks focused on Central Europe, particularly forces located in the Federal Republic of German, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on the NATO side, and the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland on the Warsaw Pact side. In 1986, MBFR talks foundered over disagreements on the size of Soviet military manpower.
A new set of negotiations on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) "conducted within the framework of the CSCE process" was subsequently opened among the 16 NATO members and 6 Warsaw Pact members.[note #17] On 19 November 1990 at the CSCE summit meeting in Paris a CFE agreement was signed limiting five categories of military equipment tanks, artillery, armored combat vehicles, attack helicopters, and combat aircraft in the Atlantic-to-the-Urals area, an area broader than MBFR's Central Region but narrower than CSCE's Vancouver to Vladivostok area. Subsequently, a "CFE-1A" agreement was negotiated and finally signed at the July 1993 CSCE summit setting limits on manpower in the Atlantic-to-Urals area of 29 states party to the agreement.[note #18]
At the initiative of French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur in 1994, France proposed a set of talks, called the Conference on Stability in Europe, designed to contribute to good neighborly relations in Central and Eastern Europe. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said the conference was "filling a vacuum," and Balladur has said it would provide a "pragmatic and preventive diplomatic method," which he contrasted to "big institutional maneuvers or arrangements which are often ephemeral."[note #19] The talks began with a conference in Paris in late May 1994 of foreign ministers or other representatives from 57 countries or international organizations.[note #20] The purpose has been described as designed to help settle potential border disputes and solve problems involving minorities for potential new candidates for membership in the EU.[note #21] Balladur has said the aim was to conclude within a year's time a "Stability Pact," which would involve signing of agreements between neighbors recognizing their borders and guaranteeing the rights of minorities. The French have organized two "regional tables" to promote rapprochement among European states, and accords reached in the round tables would be enshrined in the "Stability Pact" and registered with CSCE/OSCE[note #22]. NATO Foreign Ministers have welcomed this initiative, stating that it can make a substantial contribution to stability in Europe.[note #23]
On the other hand, some in the East have expressed reservations. The chief of Czech President Havel's cabinet has been critical of the concept, saying that the initiators of the proposal do not have solid experience in CEE, the exposing of CEE's intimate problems for all the world to see risks opening Pandora's box, and that "the kind of problem the conference is studying cannot be resolved with great pomp."[note #24] In June 1994, then Polish Foreign Minister Andrzej Olechowski stated, "Our region certainly needs the Balladur plan. But we do not like the idea that its implementation could be a precondition for Poland's entry into the EU. . . . We have signed treaties of good neighborly relations with our seven neighbors. This shows our desire for compromise. But if this desire was lacking in one or two of our neighbors, I do not see why Poland's entry into the EU should be called into question."[note #25]
Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev warned the May conference that the proposed "Stability Pact" might conflict with CSCE; French Foreign Minister Juppe said the conference would disappear within a year when the "Pact" was inaugurated, and denied that the conference was duplicating existing organizations such as CSCE, Council of Europe, or WEU.[note #26]
The "Visegrad States" or "Visegrad Group" is the term used for a cooperative consultative arrangement, begun in 1990 in the Hungarian town of Visegrad, among leaders of Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia (since January 1993 the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The original purpose of the consultations was to coordinate efforts to end dependence on the Soviet Union, specifically to terminate activities of the Warsaw Pact and the Council for Mutual Economic Cooperation.[note #27] Consultations have continued even after the dissolution of the two Soviet-led organizations. The Visegrad four have held meetings of state presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and defense ministers to discuss a range of political, economic, and defense issues.
Reluctant to institutionalize this regional grouping, as Czech President Havel has criticized, "Visegrad cooperation should not be institutionalized. There should be no impression that it is some kind of bloc or that it is an alternative to integration into West Europe."[note #28] The Czechs support membership in the EU, NATO, and WEU for all four Visegrad states, but they appear not to want to be bound to a group approach to these organizations. The Czechs may believe that they are ahead of the other states in political, economic, and military reform and that too close of an identification with the three other states might lessen their chances for early membership in Western organizations.
The Hungarian position may be somewhere between that of the Czechs and the Poles. An interviewer summarized the Polish position in an article of September 1994: "It is better when four countries speak together with one voice than separately," while the Czech position was "the Czechs will join the European Union sooner if they do it by themselves." In response, Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Istvan Pataki opined that the Polish position was correct, going on to say "When we speak together, our efficiency increases."[note #29] The Hungarians in the fall of 1994, however, appeared to comment in favor of an individual country approach so that no country has to wait for Hungary nor does Hungary have to wait for any other country in order to join.[note #30]
Defense Ministers of Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, and the First Deputy Defense Minister of the Czech Republic last met in Bratislava in September 1994 and agreed to meet again in May 1995. The Slovak Minister emphasized that military cooperation among the four Visegrad states had become subdued and that was why the meetings was convened. Responding to the noticeable absence of the Czech Defense Minister, the Hungarian Minister told reporters that the Czech Minister was expected to attend the May 1995 meeting.[note #31]
The Visegrad states and the United States have discussed regional cooperation on management of airspace in the area. According to an early January 1995 Hungarian press report, the U.S. Government has offered $25 million to the four Visegrad states to modernize their military air control centers. The Hungarian deputy state secretary of defense was said to have indicated that greater cooperation among the four would be required. The report suggested that such cooperation would be a significant step regarding membership in NATO, if the identification-friend-or-foe system and system of civilian and military control become uniform among the four and if the systems are manufactured to NATO specifications.[note #32]
The Visegrad four signed a Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in December 1992, aimed at creating a common market in 2001 but later moved up to 1998, as a preparatory move toward joining the EU; Czech leaders complained in December 1994 that there had been no visible results.[note #33] A press report from a Visegrad summit meeting in Poznan, Poland, on 25 November 1994, suggested that Visegrad cooperation was dying, in that leaders had decided only to accelerate the reduction of customs tariffs but had not even mentioned political cooperation.[note #34] On the other hand, another report indicated that at Poznan Visegrad leaders had opened CEFTA to new members who have signed association agreements with the EU and GATT, and Slovenia might become a member.[note #35]
In March 1992, the Council of Baltic Sea States was established by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have held conferences of ministers from these three states at least over the last three years. In December 1994, ministers adopted principles of strategy for regional development; ministers expressed support for closer interstate cooperation on economic and social issues and addressed regional transportation issues.[note #36]