An informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers was held in Brussels on March 6 in preparation of the Bucharest Summit of the Alliance that will take place on April 2nd and 3rd. Our discussion concentrated on two basic issues. The first one had to do with NATO enlargement and developments in the Western Balkans. Within this context, we also dealt with NATO's relations with Russia, the Ukraine, and Georgia. The second issue we dealt with involved an evaluation of the Alliance's two operations in Afghanistan (ISAF) and Kosovo (KFOR). In both of these UN-mandated operations there is an important Greek contribution and participation.
This contribution complements 55 years of a multifaceted important Greek participation in the Alliance's operational efforts. On this basis and within the framework of our strategic choice to candidly support the European and Euro-Atlantic future of the countries of Western Balkans, we underlined our support - on a general basis - for NATO's "open door" policy.
However, an "open door" policy does not in any way mean a policy of deviating from specific principles. An alliance must be first and foremost an organization of free, peaceful, and democratic countries with strong bonds of solidarity and accord. It is not merely an international or intergovernmental meeting or a group of states brought together ad hoc for a specific purpose.
I want to refer to two principles that are at the core of the logic and functioning of every Alliance; every allied relationship of solidarity.
First principle: A policy of good neighborly relations that is put into practice. It must be implemented in particular between third countries seeking membership and countries that are already members - that have in fact for decades been members - of the Alliance.
Second principle: Unanimity in the taking of decisions that bind the Alliance as a whole.
More specifically, article 10 of the founding treaty of the Alliance stipulates that the member states can, through a unanimous decision, invite any other European state to join the Alliance. Within this framework and in implementation of the agreement that the invitation to accede is addressed to each candidate country separately, Greece supports the invitations to Croatia and Albania, which - however - will have to take further, major steps of progress in the area of protecting human and minority rights.
As far as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is concerned, I stressed to our Allies that unfortunately, the policy that was followed by the government of our neighboring country in its relations with Greece - particularly as concerns its intransigent stance and its actions of an irredentist and nationalistic logic, which is interwoven with the name issue - does not allow us to take the same positive stance as in the case of Croatia and Albania.
I underlined that the intransigence that has persisted to date, within the framework of the negotiations that have been going on for 15 years under the auspices of the United Nations, "that is in fact accompanied by actions, decisions, and often offensive statements and references to Greek domestic policy," has left us with no other choice.
Greece was therefore unable to provide its consent to the invitation, as I stressed to my fellow colleagues in the Council. We are not happy about that. Nobody likes "vetoes." I sincerely hope that there is still time to reach a mutually acceptable, practical solution, to be implemented immediately, within the framework of the UN Special Mediator Mr. Nimetz's efforts, which we support and will continue to support.
Greece will continue to work in a constructive spirit within the framework of its stated policy towards a fruitful outcome of the ongoing process and towards finding a mutually acceptable solution. As long as there is no such solution, there will be an insurmountable obstacle to FYROM's Euroatlantic ambitions.
I call upon the neighboring country's government to take the step that the Greek government has already taken - with responsibility, political courage, and political risk: To meet us at the point of mutual acceptance. It will be a responsible, serious, and decisive move on their part; a move that will win our northern neighbor a future, a European future, a future of stability, peace, and economic prosperity.
Greece will provide its substantial support and help, as it has done all these years; Because we want stability and prosperity for our neighboring country and its friendly people. But you cannot win the future with mindsets and policies that are based on the past. You win it with responsible political decisions that are taken in a moderate, prudent, and consensual manner.
These are, after all, the principles on which NATO and the European Union are founded.
Dora Bakoyannis is the Foreign Minister of Greece.
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