We wtorek 4 maja prezydent RP Aleksander Kwaśniewski z Małżonką udał się z wizytą oficjalną do Szwecji. Wizyta rozpoczęła się od spotkania z parą królewską Karolem Gustawem XVI i Sylwią. Po południu Aleksander Kwaśniewski spotkał się z premierem Szwecji Goeranem Perssonem. Tematem rozmowy była sytuacja w Kosowie oraz rola Rosji w rozwiązaniu tego konfliktu. Po spotkaniu prezydent RP powiedział: Uważałem od samego początku, że ważne jest, aby Rosja była współodpowiedzialna za rozwiązanie konfliktu kosowskiego. Włączenie Rosji do procesu negocjacji, do poszukiwania rozwiązań dla Kosowa jest bardzo ważne Zdaniem A. Kwaśniewskiego, Rosja miała i w dalszym ciągu ma wpływ na to, co dzieje się w Serbii oraz na samego prezydenta Miloszewicia, ale klucz do pokoju leży w tej chwili po stronie władz Jugosławii. Wieczorem prezydent RP wygłosił odczyt w International Peace Research Institute nt. nowej roli Polski w systemie bezpieczeństwa europejskiego. (tekst wystąpienia przekazujemy w całości) Ladies and Gentlemen, We are presently participating in fundamental changes in the system of European security. The prevailing feature of these transformations is the movement from confrontation to co-operation, from an order based on a balance of power to a system whose foundation is the respect for common values: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The significance of extra-military threats to security is increasing as is the role of international institutions in restricting them. Brussels, the seat of the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union, is becoming a symbol of these changes. That is the reason why the new European order, rising in front of our very eyes, is sometime called the Brussels order - to distinguish it from the previous Versailles and Yalta treaties. Poland is increasingly involved in the shaping of this new order. Poland became a NATO member less than two months ago. We are now protected by an umbrella which gives us a guarantee and sense of security. It also strengthens conditions for Poland`s economic development and prosperity. In our view we are taking part in the construction of such an international order which cancels out the philosophy of zones of influence and opens the prospect of an "open doors" philosophy rather than that of closed clubs. It is not an exclusive but an inclusive security order. It would not be right to separate the more general thinking on European security from reflections on the recent events in the Balkans. In the first days as a NATO member Poland presented its stand on ethnic cleansing, violation of basic human rights and the humanitarian disaster in Kosovo in conjunction with the other member countries. The tragedy made us starkly aware that to be a member of the Alliance does not only offer a sense of comfort. It also, and perhaps primarily, amounts to an enormous responsibility for complex decisions or possible desistance. Recognising that further retreat in the face of violence would be impossible to justify to the world and Europe, Poland expressed support for the airborne campaign waged against Yugoslavia. At the same time we support all the concepts, plans and activities which could end the bloodshed, reinstate elementary justice and ensure peaceful existence to all peoples and ethnic communities residing in the Balkan region. The tragic events unfolding in the south of Europe illustrate the wider dilemmas which the international community is facing on the eve of a new century. This is the proper moment to pose important questions on the shape of European and global security, on the rules to prevent and resolve the conflicts which may appear. A question which is being discussed most often and heatedly in this context is that concerning the relationship between the principle of protecting human rights, including protection against genocide, and the rule of respect for sovereignty of a state and non-interference in internal affairs. NATO faces a complex choice. Should the member states` military power be used outside their territory to save the lives and rights of the Albanian minority in Kosovo. Are mass evacuations and bloody repressions to be allowed and observed with indifference for what is occurring there. Such is the dilemma which we are facing as the present century, the century of the Holocaust, draws to a close. NATO`s airborne attacks cannot be accepted with delight by anyone in his right senses, but was there any other way out when the authorities in Belgrade resisted all political persuasion. It would be wrong to treat any armed activities with enthusiasm but the use of force should be treated as justified means in unavoidable situations. The Poles remember well that it was once claimed not worthwhile to die for Gdańsk. It soon appeared it was not only that old Baltic port city which the Europeans had to die for on the many fronts of the second world war. The new strategic concept of the North Atlantic Alliance was agreed at the recently concluded Washington summit. We affirmed together with our partners that the joint defence of the member states remains NATO`s basic task. In the face of new international challenges the members simultaneously accepted as justified that other operations could be undertaken in order to consolidate the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic space. In such events they will display their attachment to the provisions of both the Washington Treaty and the United Nations Charter. The Washington summit affirmed the commitment of the "nineteen" to the "open doors" policy. The enlargement of the Alliance is to continue. We do not accept the opinion that the untransversable border for NATO`s enlargement is determined by the Russian zone of interests, coinciding with the area of the former USSR. From Poland`s viewpoint, we have a common interest in winning over for democracy the countries which remain in the zone of "diluted security". We need to create conditions to enhance stability in the immediate region. I wish to firmly stress that the current transformations taking place in the European security system are not and will not be aimed against Russia. Poland wishes to promote dialogue and the building of trust in our relations with our great Eastern neighbour. We are presenting and intend to present concrete proposals for expansion of our contacts and co-operation - also in the area of security. During the Washington NATO summit the allies accepted the European Union`s aspirations for separable but not separate security and defence identity. This fully corresponds to our way of thinking. Poland declares itself on the side of consolidating NATO`s "European pillar" and for expanding Europe`s defence identity. But what is quite clear, we simultaneously support the upholding of transatlantic bonds and also the United States` political and military presence in Europe. Poland perceives the North Atlantic Alliance as much more than just a military pact and common defence organisation. It is becoming the key pillar of a system of co-operative security throughout the whole Euro-Atlantic region. NATO and its partners have built a whole network of institutions, agreements and practical activities which serve the consolidation of stability and mutual trust. The activities of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the implementation of the "Partnership for Peace" programme is of increasing importance in this field. We attach great weight to work pursued within the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council and also the NATO-Ukraine Committee. New situations require new solutions. In opposing fresh threats to international security, NATO ought to co-operate increasingly closely with other international organisations, to mention but the United Nations, the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Union and the Council of Europe which tomorrow will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The approaching years will require even more effective means of opposing the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons, especially of weapons of mass destruction, organised crime, international terrorism, the nonobservance of human rights, all manner of hate and nationalism. The effect of preventing and resolving various conflicts will well serve the shaping of a Europe-wide system of co-operative security. Poland wishes to develop the closest possible bilateral co-operation with all its neighbours and to jointly contribute to stability in the region. What Poland and its neighbours attained in the 1990s is of great importance. Let me just be allowed to say that we experienced a fundamental turning-point in this period in Polish-German relations while the increasing intensity of the relationship between Poland and Ukraine as well as Lithuania assumed the nature of a strategic partnership. Poland`s central geopolitical situation, the essential potential and positive experiences in systemic and economic transformations, place no small responsibility upon us for how the situation develops in the immediate region. Poland will continue, to the extent of its possibilities and also in its best understood own interest, to work to break down inherited "post-cold-war" divisions, barriers and differences. We shall also oppose the possible creation of new lines of division in our part of the continent. Not only the deepening of bilateral relations will be of assistance in this area but also the development of various regional and sub-regional initiatives. Poland is an active promoter of co-operation with the Wishegrad Group and CEFTA. Poland is a member of the Central European Initiative and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. It enjoys observer status in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Black Sea Economic Co-operation Zone. Though the so-called new regionalism cannot be treated as a substitute for membership in the main Euro-Atlantic structures, it is playing and will continue to play an important part in opposing the fragmentation of European security. The mentioned groups can make an increasingly essential contribution to establishing "soft" security instruments. What is meant here is to establish non-military regional confidence- building measures, to work out common stands on security issues on the fora of organisations such as the United Nations and the OSCE. In the final account, to co-ordinate efforts to prevent crises and to expand co-operation in maintaining peace. Due to its strategic and transit location Poland could well become a keystone between various sub-regional groupings, for instant the Baltic, the Central European and the Black Sea ones. While participating in various forms of regional joint activity, we shall also attempt to act creatively and positively on the eastern policies of the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union. Among other things we are interested in the extension of the "northern dimension" of the Union. We declare for closer connections of the Kaliningrad Region and also other regions of Russia with European processes. We support the projects for developing transportation and energy transmission routes, including smoothing the way for transporting Azeri crude oil from Black Sea ports to Baltic ports. Poland`s new role in European security in the oncoming years will thus define many conditions of which the recently gained NATO membership is not the only one. Apart from participation in the Alliance`s integrated political and military system, the part we play in the processes of European integration will be of no small importance as well as in shaping the general European security system within the framework of the OSCE, in developing bi- and multi-lateral networks within Central and East Europe. I am certain this will prove an active and creative role, to the potential of a nation of forty million living in the very heart of the continent. Our experience and achievements should prove useful n the work on consolidating security and stability in Europe.