Habersack, Sabine - Puşcaş, Vasile - Ciubotă, Viorel (szerk.): Democraţia in Europa centrală şi de Sud-Est - Aspiraţie şi realitate (Secolele XIX-XX) (Satu Mare, 2001)
Ivo Samson: Security Policy of the Slovak Republic: Meeting NATO Criteria before Madrid and after Washington
Ivo Samson foreign-policy priority and orientation for the next few years and believes that the year 2002 will be the year of invitation for Slovakia.39 From the political viewpoint, this alternative is unique and unchangeable; it is closely related to the principle of transition from individual defense to collective defense. All the other opinions related to the problem regarding the membership or non-membership of NATO/WEU can move only on the level of subjective considerations. One encounters many opinions on the level of oral expressions of politicians, or on the level of theoretical contributions in the expert press on the fact, that the process of enlargement also has its paradoxical background. The paradoxes may have an evident existing nature; on the other hand, hypothetical to speculative paradoxes can also be found. In relation to them it is important that further development should confirm their speculative and hypothetical character, and it is necessary to prevent them becoming really existing paradoxes or hypotheses. In becoming a member of the European security structures, Slovakia should emphasize the fact, that for the SR, the principle of collective defense is especially important, not only from the military point of view, but also from the economic viewpoint. The Slovak Republic must be ready to take part in the tasks, risks, responsibilities, advantages, and costs resulting from common security in the Alliance and from collective defense. It is expected that Slovakia will develop a strategy anchored in the NATO New Strategic Concept. The ability to make a military contribution to the collective defense and to the new tasks of the Alliance will be a criterion for decision-making about beginning discussions aiming at entry into the Alliance. An important element of the military contribution will be the engagement to take part in the targets of standardization, which is a basis for strategy and operational efficiency. Above all, it will be necessary to concentrate on interoperability and to accept such procedures related to standardization, which will enable the Slovak Army to reach a sufficient level of training and equipment for an effective operational common activity. The activities of the SR are oriented to the facts within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program, including the Process of Planning and Evaluation. To reach at least a minimal level of interoperability within as short a period as possible is an important military 39 See in: Stanovenie priorit zahranicnei politikv SR na rokv 2000 - 2003 ("Formulating the Foreign Policy Priorities of the the SR for the Years 2000 - 2003"), in: Materials on the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Council of the SR, National Council of the SR, September 2, 1999. 202
