PRESS RELEASE

15 December 1997

NATO's U-Turn on Cost Study Upsets Parliamentarians

NATO has confirmed that the Alliance’s study on the costs of expansion will not be made public. In a BASIC Reports article to be published on 15 December, a NATO spokesman says the study "is not going to be an open document". Instead, "major conclusions of the study will be contained ... in the communique of the North Atlantic Council Meeting on 16 December".

This is at odds with the statement made by NATO's Secretary General, Javier Solana, in September 1997, who replying to a question from BASIC Reports stressed that the study will "not only be made public, it will be scrutinized". The 16 NATO Parliaments must ratify the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to NATO.

In France, Xavier de Villepin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Senate, said: "I am very sorry ... because the French parliament will not have the necessary information to proceed with ratification. Without these essential data how can the parliament judge ratification?"

Paul Quilès, Chairman of the Defence Committeee of the National Assembly, said: "NATO is trying to minimise the costs of enlargement to get national parliaments to ratify ... The suspicion which is taking root will not be lifted if this study on cost will not be published".

In the UK Menzies Cambell, MP, member of the Defence Select Committee said: "It is inconceivable that the House of Commons would vote to ratify NATO enlargement without knowing what the cost to the British taxpayer would be". Ann Clwyd, MP, an influential Labour Party back-bencher, said: "It would seem that NATO's commitment to transparency does not apply to issues concerning NATO expansion. How can we be expected to fully debate and discuss the issue of NATO expansion, including its costs, if we are not allowed full access to this information?"

US Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat-Iowa, member of the Appropriations Committee, commented that: "Public disclosure of costs is a necessity".

Keld Albrechtsen, member of the Danish Foreign Policy Committee at the Danish Parliament, said that the fact that the cost study will not be made public was "Clearly unacceptable". He added, "the Danish parliament will not accept ratification without full public access to this document".

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