EDITORIAL: No more Yaltas (07/13/97)

EDITORIAL

No more Yaltas

Events in Madrid this week marked the start of a new era in Europe as NATO members voted to offer membership to three Central European states and signed the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Ukraine. Secretary General Javier Solana called the meeting in Madrid "a defining moment" for the alliance and said it would be remembered as the time when "North America and Europe came together to shape the course of a new century."

After the current 16 NATO members voted to invite Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to join them, President Bill Clinton said "This is a very great day, not only for Europe and the United States, not simply for NATO, but indeed, for the cause of freedom in the aftermath of the Cold War." And rightfully so, as the decision marked the beginning of the construction of a new framework for security, in what has come to be called the "Euro-Atlantic area," based on openness and partnership.

The summit was significant also because, as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright emphasized, "no European democracy will be excluded because of its position on the map." (It should be noted that the final communiqué specifically mentioned the countries perceived to be next in line after the first tier of new members: Romania and Slovenia, as well as the Baltic states.)

In a June editorial we had worried that if NATO caved in to Russia's demand to stop membership at the borders of the former Warsaw Pact, then Ukraine would once again be left to fend for itself against its larger neighbor. Now we can worry less.

The NATO-Ukraine charter notes that "an independent, democratic and stable Ukraine is one of the key factors for ensuring stability in Central and Eastern Europe, and the continent as a whole," and emphasizes that Ukraine is "an inseparable part" of that region. It affirms that "no state can regard any part of the OSCE region as its sphere of influence," lists principles for NATO-Ukraine relations, notes areas of consultation and cooperation, and provides for practical arrangements for such activity,

And, Ukraine did get what Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko had said earlier this year it required: confirmation of the openness of the alliance to new European democracies, including Ukraine, and "non-acceptance" of any claims for a new division of Europe into spheres of influence or domination."

The words of President Clinton in regard to the partnership charter with Ukraine, were well-chosen: "... we have come to Madrid to build a new Europe, where old divides are bridged by new ties of friendship and cooperation; where we recognize no spheres of influence, but instead the influence of shared ideals. This charter ... welcomes Ukraine as our partner in building an undivided Europe. " Here was a strong acknowledgement of the failure of Yalta.

And so, we welcome the results of the Madrid summit, which opened the door to three new members and to other members in the future, and firmly shut the door on an era that recognized the discredited concept of "spheres of influence." As President Kuchma said: "Madrid '97 will undoubtedly go down in history as a city where a dividing line left by the Cold War in the very center of Europe was eliminated."

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