ENERGY SECURITY OF EUROPE AND NATO

Unhindered access to energy resources is of vital importance to the wellbeing of national economy. It is one of the necessary conditions for the ability of state to provide basic services, as well as a fundamental requirement for state to maintain its economic, but also political sovereignty. The different degree of energy dependencies affect both the dynamics of relations and the nature of national sovereignty within the EU and the Alliance. Energy security, nonetheless, remains contested priority among NATO members. Can NATO as an organization contribute to the Energy security of Europe?

Energy security is primarily domestic responsibility of each and every Member of the alliance and no state can or should be relying on the provision of their security by others in order to free-ride and reduce the necessary investment into defence, or energy security. NATO is an excellent platform for developing and sharing of best practices as well as for cooperation and coordination in research and coping with energy security threats. Alliance members can use the existing Article IV to improve the resilience and protect their critical infrastructure.

Read more in Policy Paper prepared especially for 5th GLOBSEC Security Conference by ANDREJ NOSKO, Researcher in Energy Security, at :

http://www.ata-sac.org/globsec2010/uploads/documents/Andrej%20Nosko%20-%20Energy%20Security%20of%20Europe%20and%20NATO.pdf

Per angusta ad augusta:

an outlook for EU and NATO relations

The way to the current state of affairs of EU-NATO relations has been long and winding. The official view from NATO is given by its current Strategic Concept dating from 1999. But in 2009 NATO’s Heads of State and Government issued the Declaration on Alliance Solidarity. In comparison with the Strategic Concept of 1999 it speaks very differently on the topic of cooperation with the EU. On one hand the text acknowledges what the Europeans have achieved in developing ESDP into a policy capable of delivering operational results, on the other hand it implies that non-EU Allies are not being involved to an appropriate level in this development. The next opportunity to move forward on the “document frontline” will be the drafting of the new Strategic Concept in the North Atlantic Council. Later this year, NATO’s Secretary General in his Strategic Concept draft proposal should be much careful how to develop the possibilities of a truly strategic partnership with the EU.

Read more in Policy Paper prepared especially for 5th GLOBSEC Security Conference by JAROSLAV NAĎ (Director General, Ministry of Defense of Slovak Republic) and MARTIN SKLENÁR (analyst, UNMIK) available at:

http://www.ata-sac.org/globsec2010/uploads/documents/Martin%20Sklenar%20and%20Jaroslav%20Nad%20-%20Per%20Angusta%20Ad%20Augusta%20-%20An%20Outlook%20for%20EU%20and%20NATO%20Relations.pdf

Common approaches of V4 countries in security- mission impossible?

Experts from three ATA associations (Slovak, Czech and Polish) and International Centre for Democratic Transition (Hungary) prepared second Policy Paper as an outcome of the project of Slovak Atlantic Commission "Visegrad Security Cooperation Initiative" (VSCI). The authors of the document agreed on the necessity of working out common V4 foreign policy strategies in the field security.

For experts, cooperation of Nordic countries can serve as a very good example of regional cooperation. Cooperation in domain of security among Central European countries is even more promising since in V4 there are much more similar approaches to security than in Nordic countries. You can find Policy Paper with recommendations to common approaches of V4 countries to transatlantic security at:
http://www.ata-sac.org/subory/file/VSCI%20Paper%201%20Trans-Atlantic%20Security.pdf

Visegrad Security Cooperation Initiative (VSCI)- Energy Security

What should V4 countries do to have more effective energy security? Guidelines were drawn upon in recommendations to decision structures at relevant ministries of Visegrad countries by the Slovak Atlantic Commission as the outcome of Visegrad Security Cooperation Initiative (VSCI). The project was organised by the Slovak Atlantic Commission in first half of 2010 altogether with partners mainly from ATA: Jagello 2000 (Czech republic), International Centre for Democratic Transition (Hungary) and Euro – Atlantic Association (Poland) and financially supported by the International Visegrad Fund. You can find now the Policy Paper on energy security at http://www.ata-sac.org/subory/file/VSCI_Energy_Security.pdf

Bratislava Security Conference 2010 (GLOBSEC)

On September 13 - 14, 2010, the Slovak Atlantic Commission will organise 5th annual GLOBSEC Bratislava Security Conference. The GLOBSEC is the most important international security conference in Central Europe, taking place annually in Bratislava, gathering more than 250 guests: Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Defense of NATO and EU members states, decision- makers, opinion- makers, distinct analysts and journalists both from the region and Euro- Atlantic area. This year, GLOBSEC conference includes 7 panel discussions, 2 Night Owl Sessions and catches upon the hottest topics of international security and foreign policy with strong accent on transatlanticism and regional dimension with high level participation.

Speakers of the conference will discuss global ambitions of „post- Lisbon Europe“, consequences of the economic crisis for global security, future prospects of Ukraine and Moldova, European perspective of Bosnia, regional security cooperation between Nordic and Visegrad countries, new NATO´s Strategic concept, values and interests of the new Euro - Atlantic security architecture and finally overview of the developments in Afghanistan. To see agenda and speakers of the conference please visit www.globsec.org or join GLOBSEC Bratislava Security Conference on Facebook.