Publisert med forbehold om endringer under fremførelsen.

President of the Assembly, Prime Minister, mayor of Stavanger and distinguished guests.

In many ways democracy is a hardy plant. It can take root and survive in the most barren of wastelands. Sadly, it can also sometimes be a delicate and tender growth.

Democracy needs protecting. As a rule with words; sometimes by force. When threatened by violence and dictatorship, the forces of democracy must rally round; if necessary they must fight shoulder to shoulder.

This was the reason why NATO was founded in 1949. Which makes it such an added pleasure that the Storting has the privilege of hosting the NATO PA now that it is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Norway was one of NATO’s 12 founding members, and Norwegian parliamentarians played a crucial role when the parliamentary assembly was set up in 1955. The heartfelt welcome I am extending to you here today therefore has wider implications. It is also testimony to the fact that the Storting and Norway has stood behind NATO from the very start.

Our alliance consists of diverse countries, with diverse traditions and diverse societies. Just as with other interparliamentary forums, the parliamentary assembly plays a crucial role in enhancing understanding, collaboration and unity. More than that, it’s an important arena for exchanging knowledge and insight, not least about our own democratic assumptions.

As we all know, this year is the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the defeat of Nazism. For the second time in a matter of decades the world had experienced the unspeakable horrors of modern warfare. And we had witnessed what crimes against humanity a totalitarian dictatorship is capable of perpetrating.

Though the UN was established in the very year the war ended, it soon became apparent that threats to peace had not simply vanished when the armistice was signed in 1945. Wartime experience had also taught us that the menace of dictatorship could best be met by a united front. The answer was NATO.

The threat scenario may have changed since then, yet continued unity and the willingness to defend our common values and to stick together for our mutual security is still the key.

Ladies and gentlemen, questions of war and peace cannot, must not, be dealt with solely behind closed doors.

Our civil society does not expect only to be informed about foreign and security policy issues, it expects to have an impact on them as well.

And it is here that we as parliamentarians, and the NATO PA in particular, have a hugely important role to play. We must be the link between NATO on the one hand and all those NATO has been charged with protecting on the other. To maintain unity within the alliance we must continue to engender broad public support for the absolute necessity of being prepared to combat external threats.

Herein lies the principal task of our parliaments and parliamentarians: continual responsiveness and openness to the views and fears of the people. And a guarantee that their concerns will be passed on to the very top.

Democracy has many facets. Insight and information are two of these. Perhaps the most important contribution the Parliamentary Assembly can make is to spread the word about the decisions that have been made in NATO, how they have been made, and – not least – why. In short, to work for transparency.

NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members by defending peace and democracy. The role of the NATO PA within this must be to strengthen the conditions on which democracy is founded by bridging the gap between our democratically elected institutions and the driving force of security policy.

May I close by once again welcoming you to Norway and wishing you all the very best for a rewarding, productive and enjoyable few days here in Stavanger.

It’s now my great pleasure to hand the floor to the President of the NATO PA, the honorable Michael Turner.