David Miliband

Munich Security Conference

This article from the Atlantic Press Review Blog discusses some interesting comment pieces on NATO at 60. These are issues I'm grappling with at the moment. Tomorrow I make a speech  at the Wehrkunder Security Conference in Munich. Its about how NATO and the EU can deal with both conventional security threats within its borders, and the new global threats from terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation.  This is a great opportunity for Europe, NATO, and the world to think clearly and deeply about our common security. I look forward to a fascinating debate with many of the world's leaders in attendance.

Posted at 20:52 05 February 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

Cyprus

I met Alexander Downer, former Australian foreign minister and now Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on  Cyprus.  This is a key year for the Cyprus problem.  Both leaders have said to me they are committed to finding a way through.   They have an experienced supporter in Downer, to help them through the process.  Britain is determined to back all sides in making the decisions necessary for a settlement, supporting a bizonal and bicommunal federation, but we will not advance our own plan.  We want to support not initiate.  What we know is that it is in the interests of the people of the island, never mind wider geopolitical issues to do with Nato/EU relations, for the problem to be settled once and for all.

Posted at 17:58 21 January 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[5]

From Bucharest to Brussels

I am writing this at NATO headquarters where foreign ministers are debating NATO-Russia relations as well as Afghanistan and other issues. The invasion of Georgia is raw. That rawness affects the important discussion of how the NATO aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia are taken forward.

NATO makes a speciality of the 'narcissism of small differences' as I said in my contribution this afternoon. But the differences over tactics should not obscure unanimity that NATO needs to support the capacity-building needs of potential members. Nor that there is agreement across NATO that hard headed engagement with Russia is necessary. But as one of the ministers said, "engagement is an activity not a policy". The engagement is for a purpose - and that purpose must be stability in the relations between Russia and countries on its border (and the EU).

NATO membership is a long-term prospect by any stretch; NATO's membership criteria are standards-based and those standards will be upheld. But it is right to implement the conclusions agreed by heads at Bucharest in April. That is what we are doing.

Posted at 12:29 03 December 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[0]

"For a small country Europe is heaven"

This comment by a leading Slovenian politician on the first day of the Queen's State Visit brought me up short. And then I thought about the history. Slovenia was always the richest and most westernised part of former Yugoslavia. Today it is a member of the EU and NATO, the first accession country to hold the EU's rotating presidency (earlier this year), a country confident in its nationhood and also in its internationalism.

The security of the EU is heaven if your history over centuries is of empires coming and going, domination from Vienna or later Belgrade being a permanent preoccupation - and that is the Slovene experience. Tito held Yugoslavia together but the rotating republic after 1980 satisfied no one. Slovenia escaped the worst of the 1990s break up but there is a clear sense that 2008 - EU presidency, HM Queen visit - marks what a senior diplomat calls "maturity ... deciding things for ourselves rather than following others' rules".  It's been a worthwhile visit.

Posted at 12:36 23 October 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

President Yushchenko

Following up my visit to Kiev in August President Yuschenko of Ukraine called on the Prime Minister and me in London yesterday.  He heads a strategically vital country with rich history and a conspicuous commitment to engagement with western institutions, notably the EU on which there is cross party consensus in Ukraine.  Talks yesterday focussed on political stability within Ukraine, the need to nip in the bud tension over Crimea, and how to build on the 9 September EU-Ukraine accession agreement.  In addition to the global economic crisis, we also discussed follow up to the April Bucharest NATO declaration and the work of the NATO-Ukraine commission, which promote joint work with Ukrainian armed forces (who are major contributors to NATO's overseas missions).  It remains the commitment of the UK to support the people of the Ukraine in making their own decisions about their future, on national and international issues.

Posted at 11:32 07 October 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Cyprus: Don't speak too soon but...

Congratulations to President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot Leader Mr Talat on the announcement of fully fledged negotiations to resolve the 'Cyprus problem' with UN support.  Both leaders are committed to reunification on a bizonal, bi-communal, federal basis. 
 
Britain's Cypriot community will be watching carefully - it is notably not divided between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, or at least certainly not in the parts of London like Camden and Haringey where there are substantial Cypriot communities.  But this actually matters to all of us.  Agreement would strengthen stability in an important region; unblock various aspects of NATO and EU cooperation; remove a roadblock to Turkish engagement with the EU. And on and on.
 
We are supportive but not prescriptive about the outcome.  This is the best chance for a long time to get things sorted.

Posted at 18:06 04 September 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Not a Euro Army

Sometimes eurosceptics are thought to have good tunes because they are the only ones humming.  On reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Union's financial management there is a pro-European case for reform.  But the truth is that these problems are not the fundamental reason for no votes in referenda on Europe - there are bigger questions about the purpose and direction of the EU.  This is what I tried to address in my speech last night.

Security and defence policy is a hard case and a good case for thinking about the appropriate European role.  NATO is the foundation of security but does not act everywhere and needs civilian and policing complements.  But defence policy is a core national authority so this is a matter for intergovernmental work not the "community method".  On this French and British thinking is similar.  What we need are capabilities to act where NATO doesn't (e.g. Bosnia today) or where it needs partners (e.g. Kosovo).

It's not frightening - it's sensible.

Posted at 20:46 04 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

Kosovo: Is It Legal?

The situation in Kosovo is unique given its history and the extent of Security Council involvement over the last 9 years. The international legal framework for Kosovo stems from UN Security Council Resolution 1244 adopted in 1999. That resolution created a political process as well as establishing an international regime for Kosovo within the territory of Serbia. It was about restoring peace and security. Resolution 1244 does not determine or constrain the final status process, nor exclude outcomes. But it does envisage a final status process and it needs to be brought to a conclusion.

Independence has been declared by Kosovo after a totally exhaustive series of negotiations under which the settlement brokered by the UN Special Envoy could not be agreed because Serbia could not countenance the principle of independence, even with the degree of international supervision and limitations envisaged in the UN Special Envoy's proposal. It is important not to be confused by 1244's references to the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia)". This is a qualified preambular reference which in its context clearly refers only to the interim phase of administration in Kosovo. Importantly it is qualified by reference to the Helsinki Final Act, a political declaration, with 10 interacting principles covering human rights as well sovereignty and territorial integrity. We need to balance these claims. Furthermore the reference to Annex 2 of the UN resolution is important - it deals with the interim status of Kosovo, rather than its final status, which is important given the arguments about what the resolution means.

The situation on the ground is moving quite fast, after a couple of months of calm since the end of the discussion process on december 10th. The presence of Nato forces has been an important influence and the political lead from Europe and elsewhere important too. Over the next few hours and days we need to be clear about European determination to speak to the European perspective for all the countries of the former Yugoslavia. It will then be for individual countries to make decisions about recognition.

Centre for European Reform - Great Work, Job Half Done

Thursday marked the tenth birthday party of the Centre for European reform which I helped to found in the 1990s. The CER has done outstanding work under the leadership of Charles Grant. It was set up with two purposes: to help reshape the debate in Europe about the future of the EU, and to help reshape the debate in Britain about its relationship to the EU. The CER has been strikingly more successful in one than the other (you can guess which).

In terms of the debate about the future direction of the EU, there is a different EU than ten years ago - marked by enlargement as well as EMU. The CER has contributed to that - issues like Turkish accession, defence co-operation, and energy security (including relations with Russia) have been led from the CER. But the debate in Britain often seems stuck in a prism of 1940s Europe rather than the present day. Sometimes the EU has contributed to its own difficulties - whether with qualified accounts or interminable institutional wrangling and that is why the Reform word is important in the CER's title. But we also have to update our own way of engaging.

Here are some starters. We don't need to see or describe the EU as a plot from which we are seeking perpetual protection - other countries also want to maintain sovereignty on key issues like foreign policy and the agenda for the EU is now dominated by issues of shared interest not invasions of sovereignty. We can benefit from as well as lead European debate - it is not a one way street. We should trumpet the modern successes of the EU - from climate change to trade and stability on our borders in the new accession countries. We need to see reform as a shared project - negotiating successfully with Russia on a Europe wide basis is in all our interests, so is continuing the reform of the CAP and the greening of the budget.

Posted at 19:47 17 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[30]

Afghanistan

The reports of the death of the Deputy Governor of Helmand Province today, Haji Pir Mohammed, in a bombing at a mosque is a horrific reminder of the difficulties we face in Afghanistan. Two years on from the Afghan Compact signed here in London which set the framework for the international communities' help and support for the Afghan Government, three reports in recent days (by the Afghan Study Group, Oxfam and the Atlantic Council) have assessed the current state of play. The common message from all three is that we need greater coordination: between the UN, NATO and the EU, between civilian reconstruction and the armed forces, between the Afghan Government and the international community. I agree. I saw for myself when I went to Afghanistan that the sheer scale of the task is enormous and we will succeed only if we have better coordination in all those areas. The need for better coordination was central to the discussions the Prime Minister and I had with President Karzai and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. That is why we have backed the idea of a UN Special representative who can bring the international community's effort together.

Afghanistan is a poor country ripped apart by 30 years of conflict. Up to three quarters of the population are illiterate. Constant pressures mean that the capacity of the central Government is weak. There is an insurgency fueled by criminality and drugs. Over 100 countries are committed to reverse the devastation to its society and economy of 30 years of brutal conflict. Real progress has been made and the Prime Minister set out the framework for further progress over the long term in a statement to Parliament on 12 December last year. This involves increasing the capacity and effectiveness of the Afghan Security Forces and the Afghan Government; tackling the insurgency with a politically led counter insurgency policy that involves reconciliation with those prepared to renounce violence, and dealing with the drugs industry through improved rule of law and alternative livelihoods. We all agree that there is room for better co-ordination of the international effort - that is why it is so important that the UN and the Afghan Government move as quickly as possible to find someone suitable to fulfill this key role.

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

The media in London are following closely the case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a journalist condemned to death in Afghanistan on a charge of blasphemy after he circulated an article he found on the internet. We are opposed to the death penalty in all cases and believe that freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of a democratic society. We have raised the case as members of the EU and with the UN, and we support strongly the UN Special Representative's call for a review of the case.

Posted at 15:20 31 January 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[7]