Report

The Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association has the honour to present its report on the Joint Meeting of the Defence and Security, Economics and Security and Political Committees held in Brussels, Belgium February 14-16, 2010 and on the Annual Economics and Security Committee’s consultation with the OECD held in Paris, France February 17-18, 2010. Canada was represented in Brussels by Senator Jane Cordy, Senator Joseph A. Day, Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, Mr. Claude Bachand, M.P., Mr. Raymond Boughen, M.P., Mrs. Cheryl Gallant, M.P. and Mr. Anthony Rota, M.P. In Paris, Senator Joseph A. Day, Mr. Claude Bachand, M.P., Mr. Raymond Boughen, M.P., Mrs. Cheryl Gallant, M.P. and Mr. Anthony Rota, M.P. were Canada’s representatives

In Brussels, the Session was opened by Mr. Karl Lamers (Germany), Chair of the Political Committee. In his opening remarks, Lamers noted the fact that Afghanistan would continue to remain difficult and that recent signals sent from Iran were anything but promising. He also discussed the development of the Alliance’s new strategic concept and the important contribution that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly was making in that regard.

The Assembly then heard from Mr. Robert Simmons, Acting Assistant Secretary General for the NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, who spoke about NATO’s current political agenda. Thereafter, members heard from Mr. Jamie Shea, Head, Policy Planning, NATO who dealt with the new strategic concept. During the afternoon session a presentation was given by Mr. Jean-François Bureau, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy spoke on NATO’s strategic communication policy. Each presentation was followed by a question and answer period.

Simmons noted that the focus for 2010 will be the Lisbon Summit and the preparation of the “new strategic concept.” When discussing Afghanistan, he argued that there was a greater need for cooperation with other groups active in Afghanistan, like non-governmental organizations and aid agencies. Governance is still a problem, as is the role of other regional actors.

Although relations with Russia had been difficult in recent times, Simmons told delegates that they were improving. The process for cooperation has been restarted and NATO and Russia have agreed on a work plan and agenda for 2010. Items on the agenda include Afghanistan, counter terrorism, non-proliferation, common threat analysis, a study on counter piracy, natural and man-made disasters, and common infrastructure including energy. NATO’s door to future members remains open and the Alliance is also expanding its relations with countries that do not want to become members, such as Moldova, Belarus, and countries of central Asia and the Mediterranean. Dialogue has also begun with Gulf countries and with global partners like Australia. Simmons concluded by suggesting that it is also important that there be dialogue with Japan, India and China and that these countries needed to have an understanding of NATO’s current role.

With respect to questions concerning relations between NATO and the European Union (EU), Simmons noted that relations with the EU were important but still problematic. The relationship still lacks structure but staff contacts are very close.

In his presentation, Jean-François Bureau spoke about the importance of outreach to younger people. His office has done a study on 25 – 40 year olds on what they knew about NATO. The study involved interviews with 9,000 people in 15 countries and will be conducted on an annual basis. The Alliance has an identifiable logo, but while this recognition factor may be high, respondents generally had a weak understanding of NATO’s purpose. Bureau went on to suggest that NATO might be in need of a new communications strategy.

The afternoon session consisted of an open debate wherein all members could participate. The themes for the debate itself were structured by introductory remarks made by key speakers. Senator Jane Cordy spoke on Afghanistan and the Canadian role.

The morning session on Monday February 15, chaired by Julio Miranda Calha, Chair of the Defence and Security Committee, included presentations by Martin Howard, Assistant Secretary General, Operations Division, NATO, and by Guy B. Roberts, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy and Director Nuclear Policy, NATO.

Mr. Howard spoke about NATO operations and Mr. Roberts spoke about NATO’s nuclear deterrence posture. Howard noted that the lead security role was now being transferred to the Afghan National Army (ANA). In his discussion, he stressed that the transfer was not time based but rather “condition” based. He also addressed the issue of counter piracy and NATO’s role in that regard.

During the afternoon, Senator Jane Cordy, represented the Canadian delegation in a live one-hour press conference at NATO headquarters. Senator Cordy and two other delegates, one from the Netherlands and one from Bulgaria were asked a series of questions that had been submitted from citizens of various NATO countries. The press conference was hosted by Mr. Jamie Shea and was intended to bring Parliamentarians into the Alliance’s outreach programme.

During the afternoon of Feb. 15^th delegates met with the Permanent Representatives of the North Atlantic Council. These meetings have become an annual event and are held under Chatham House rules.

On Tuesday February 16 meetings were held at the European Commission. The session was chaired by Mr. Hugh Bayley, Chair of the Economics and Security Committee. Delegates heard from Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development, European Commission; Catherine Day, Secretary General of the Commission; and Jao Vale de Almeida, Director General for External Relations, European Commission.

Manservisi spoke on “the development security nexus and ways in which the EU and NATO might cooperate in this area.” He argued that development necessarily entailed more than aid and needs to include the shift of resources from North to South. Development needs to be understood as multi-faceted and must address the “key elements of stability and economic growth.” He also went on to suggest that matters are being complicated by the emergence of new powers like Brazil, China and India who are still developing economically but carry a good deal of weight. Because of these new players there no longer exists a structured and cohesive decision center. With respect to Africa Manservisi noted that much of the instability the continent faces is related to the drug trade. The drug trade creates serious problems with respect to delivering effective aid. Also many of the problems encountered are linked to desertification and lack of access to water and other basic necessities.

What is therefore required is an integrated approach that includes security sector reform. An important aspect of this is the reintegration of soldiers into society and the downsizing of armies. What is ultimately required is “good governance”. In line with this the EU has set 3 priority areas with the African Union. These include political dialogue, operationalizing the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), and predictable funding for Africa-led peace support operations. It is especially important to create credible institutions; the idea of spreading money around through aid and NGOs is over. African, he concluded, needs to be able to help them.

Catherine Day spoke about the “key priorities of the European Commission over the coming year.” She noted that EU countries are at the point where they are willing to pool defence spending. Most importantly it is imperative that public finances be brought under control. Vale de Almeida addressed the question of EU external relations and noted that the idea behind EU foreign policy is to compliment national foreign ministries and not to replace them.

MEETING AT OECD PARIS

17 and 18 February 2010

The Canadian delegation also participated in meetings at the OECD in Paris, February 17 – 18. Since 1976, the Economic and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has been making annual visits to the OECD for a briefing by the Secretariat. In 2008, the OECD Congressional Leadership Group was created in the U.S. as an informal caucus of members of Congress interested supporting and promoting the Organization’s work. The OECD also cooperates on a more ad-ho-hoc basis with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Asian forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development. The organisation is currently developing an initiative to strengthen relations with the European Parliament. In 2003, the OECD launched a programme of High-Level Parliamentary Seminars with a view to disseminating its work to parliamentarians and to obtain parliamentarians’ views on OECD policy analysis. Two seminars a year are organised on themes related to recent OECD analysis.

The OECD hopes to provide for a more systematic engagement with Parliamentarians which would entail a genuine two-way dialogue. The aim is to inform policy debates, both in the process of lawmaking and in the subsequent oversight role in monitoring policies. In the performance of these roles, parliamentarians could benefit from OECD analysis and recommendations on the very issues they are working on. Data and studies provided by the OECD can also serve as a counterweight to information MPs get from other sources. A recent example of how this can work is the UK bribery, which was introduced in the House of Lords in November 2009. The bill was informed by the OECD’s work on the issue, in particular the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Equally, parliamentarians’ expertise and direct link with constituency issues can help enrich the OECD’s monitoring of trends in member countries.

In line with the foregoing, the OECD has proposed an informal OECD Parliamentary Network which could facilitate and improve the efficiency of information flow to inform parliamentarians of OECD work and the OECD of pending national policy issues that correspond with OECD work. OECD staff would then be better informed of what the concrete interests of parliamentarians are.

During meetings at the OECD participants were briefed on Member Countries’ Economic, Fiscal and Budget Outlook; Developing Countries in the Global Economic Crisis; and World Energy Outlook. A High Level OECD Parliamentary Seminar was also held. The topic of discussion was The Financial and Economic Crisis.

Respectfully submitted,

Mr. Leon Benoit, M.P.
Chair, Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association (NATO PA)