President of the Storting, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland

President of the Assembly,
Secretary General of NATO,
Ambassadors,
Fellow Parliamentarians

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour for me to open the Plenary Sitting and the final day of the 2009 Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly here in Oslo.

We are very proud to host this meeting. During the Cold War our neighbor was a superpower under communist rule. NATO provided the guarantee for our independence.

The lesson we learned in 1940 was that security for Europe is our security – and the other way around. In 1949 we acted on that lesson. 60 years on we stand firmly by that action. 

The establishment of NATO was only possible because the leaders of the western world shared the experience of tragedy and the tradition of humanity.

Because of that experience they entered in to an era of collective security and collective responsibility.
 
That is why they created the Council of Europe, later the European Union, Western European Union, OSCE and, notably, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The euro-atlantic architecture was designed to secure the rule of law, to promote human rights, economic strength, political integration and to build a collective defence.

John Loch said that where rule of law stops, tyranny begins.

I would like to add: when we are not able to stop tyranny, war starts. We learned that lesson here in Europe. We were unable to stop tyranny. And war came.

Therefore, security is indivisible. It is for all, or for none.

This is why NATO is indispensable. NATO is the only multilateral military organization – rooted in international law as being confirmed in the NATO charter.

It is an organization that the UN can use when necessary – to stop tyranny. Like we did on the Balkans.

These days we hear a lot about NATO and its mission in Afghanistan. As though Afghanistan is regarded as the litmus test for the future of the Alliance.

By saying this we have lost the point. We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of NATO. We are there to stop tyranny, to stop spreading of terrorism because it can only lead to more wars.

During the Cold War, people used to joke about NATO, saying that the purpose of the Alliance was to keep the Germans down, the Americans in and the Russians out.

But NATO wasn’t founded to keep anyone down, in or out.

I mention this because what I see is a complex world with an unprecedented degree of interdependence among nations.

Financial meltdown, global warming, energy shortages, migration, fragile states, religious tensions, terrorism.

Each and every one provides a challenge to our common security. And each and every one reaffirms the need for NATO.

We must build alliances and adapt to new realities.

That is why this 28-nation-strong parliamentarian assembly has come together. To understand and debate how democratic rights can be uphold in the 21st Century. How freedom can be assured. What kind of alliance and alliances we need to that end.

To understand this, we need to debate: gender issues, piracy, democratic governance, cyber defence, food security, weapons of mass destruction, defence budgets, and - of course - Afghanistan. As has been done here.

And we need a New Strategic Concept. I sincerely hope that your work here in Oslo has pushed that concept further towards a conclusion.

Your excellencies
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Has NATO served its purpose? Certainly.

Is there a need for NATO today? Without doubt.

Will there be a need for NATO in the future?

Yes, provided we are able to adapt to new realities and understand the world as it is today.

Winston Churchill said: “It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war”.

NATO has never started a war. But NATOs military capabilities are available when jaw-jaw is no longer possible – to stop tyranny and war.

Now and in the future!

Thank you very much.