Ladies and Gentelmen, it is a distinct pleasure and an honor to welcome you all to this NATO Public Forum in Madrid we are now inaugurating. Spain and Madrid are proud and fortunate to host such an important NATO summit. I am especially glad this side event is taking place aimed at engaging civil society into better understanding both the importance of the moment and the substance or consequence of the Summit, and of the broader gathering with important non-NATO nations.
Let me start by thanking the institutions that have worked so hard to make this event possible: NATO’s Public Diplomacy department, the Munich Security Conference, the German Marshall Fund of the US, the Atlantic Council, and of course the Elcano Royal Institute, of which I am proud to be the honorary chairman.
Today, as Europe strives for political stability, economic prosperity and social well-being, it faces the threat of an increasingly unstable neighborhood —both in the East and in the South— and the complex challenge of a chronically unpredictable world.
The war in Ukraine is contesting many of the assumptions and beliefs that have prevailed in Europe and in the West for over three decades. The Madrid summit —and this forum— provide us with an opportunity to reflect upon the future of our Alliance in what seems to be a turning point in history.
A mere twenty years ago, we congratulated ourselves for the fact that Europe had never been so secure, prosperous, or free. Since then, however, many of our post-Cold War assumptions or predictions seem to have evaporated; and many of our hopes have been, for the time, shoved into the domain of somewhat utopian ideals.
The long-standing global struggle between tyranny and democracy is as relevant as ever. Great power competition is everywhere. War goes on. All of which should serve to remind us of the relevance and critical need to preserve the Atlantic Alliance, a family of nations which Spain joined almost exactly 40 years ago.
This context underscores the importance of NATO as an Alliance that offers credible deterrence against any security threats to its members, in Europe and North America, from wherever they may arise.
It also underlines the importance of military force more generally, and of NATO, as a vehicle for military and technological innovation, which remains a core foundation of our security.
"...It is a distinct pleasure and an honor to welcome you all to this NATO Public Forum in Madrid we are now inaugurating. Spain and Madrid are proud and fortunate to host such an important NATO summit. I am especially glad this side event is taking place aimed at engaging civil society into better understanding both the importance of the moment and the substance or consequence of the Summit, and of the broader gathering with important non-NATO nations.
Let me start by thanking the institutions that have worked so hard to make this event possible: NATO’s Public Diplomacy department, the Munich Security Conference, the German Marshall Fund of the US, the Atlantic Council, and of course the Elcano Royal Institute, of which I am proud to be the honorary chairman.
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Finally, this difficult context also reminds us of the NATO’s relevance as a political community: the best expression of transatlantic unity.
More than ever, the Alliance is proving its value as a beacon of freedom for all our like-minded friends and partners beyond Europe and North America. For as much as NATO is essentially a Euro-Atlantic organization, its values —our values— are by no means exclusive, since they are more widely shared and have a strong universal appeal.
Unity and freedom are valuable strategic assets in a world defined by the return of great power competition and a renewed struggle as I mentioned between democracy and autocracy; trends that are clearly not confined to the Euro-Atlantic space.
The Euro-Atlantic region will remain uppermost amongst NATO’s concerns. However, the focus of global economic growth, military competition and technological rivalry is shifting towards the Indo-Pacific region. Inevitably, developments in and around Europe will probably be increasingly shaped by exogenous forces. This means that we cannot turn our backs on broader geostrategic developments.
If anything, the war in Ukraine has taught us how important it is to muster global support in defense of a rules-based order in Europe. We have reason to feel confident that the transatlantic relationship is stronger than ever, and that Europe has remained united in the face of Russia’s intolerable aggression. However, garnering support beyond the Euro-Atlantic is proving considerably difficult.
This will remain a core challenge for the Atlantic community in the years and decades to come, especially as strategic competitors continue to question the institutional and normative fabric that underpins the open international order that we hold so dear. Which is why we are so grateful to count on the solidarity of friends like Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, whose representatives are with us here in Madrid.
In that key challenge, Spain must seek to develop a broader understanding of the transatlantic community, one that may allow us to strengthen our connection with Africa and Latin America. In this regard, our country is certainly in an ideal position; both geopolitically and due to our widely shared will to serve as a bridge between the Atlantic, Europe, and the Mediterranean.
One of the biggest questions facing the leaders, who are gathering in Madrid to reflect on NATO’s future, will be how to strike the right balance between responding to the immediate threats in Eastern Europe and the need to counter the systemic and long-term challenges. Also how to balance its military and political dimensions; and how to prepare the Alliance for an increase in great power competition without losing sight of other transnational challenges that will not go away, such as terrorism or the climate-security nexus.
These are not easy, binary choices, but I am confident that the Alliance’s leaders will navigate them successfully. And in this task, which will keep them busy for a good number of years — or decades!, they will no doubt need the continuous support and ideas generated by think tanks and civil society groups such as those represented in this Forum.
Allow me to conclude by wishing you all a successful forum and summit, and a wonderful stay in Madrid. Thank you very much.