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
requirement owing to securing military efficiency. According to NATO representatives, the Slovak Republic is progressing very responsibly and purposefully in this sense.40 There is also a political demand for the internal solidarity of the Alliance, in the sense that its new members, and those expected to join in the near future should feel that they are equal participants having equal rights in collective defense. The entry of Slovakia into NATO would, undoubtedly, mean increased expenses for defense. At present, each member country has higher defense expenses than Slovakia. The annual contribution of each member country to the running of the Alliance must also be considered. One has also to consider the process of balancing the differences in armaments and the readiness of the Slovak Army with those of the Alliance countries, which could last 10 to 15 years, and in this period, defense expenditure would be higher. This results from the common planning system operated by NATO with the whole system based on budgeting. Further expenditure is related to normalization and standardization of the armaments and material by the national armaments industries. If Slovakia remains outside NATO, the following scenario is possible: Alternative No. 2\ A neutral Slovakia. This is, however, a pessimistic scenario. This alternative has no prevailing support in intellectual, political and academic circles. The present globalization, and the associated integration processes, now include all domains of economic and social life (new high technologies, information age). In direct connection with the laws of social development, and the repeated tendencies of rise and fall, anybody who does not accept this global trend, will very soon (2000 - 2005) be unable to take advantage, on the European economic and socio-economic scene (EU, OSCE, WEU), of the economic growth and positive economic indicators recorded in Slovakia in recent years. Slovakia must clearly and especially with political unity declare this fact (if it wishes to be part of Europe). Thereafter, neutrality has no justification and does not solve the alternative of Slovakia's security from the military point of view. Theoretically, neutrality is impossible without self-sufficiency in armaments. Neutrality loses its theoretical and militarypolitical meaning in the international-political context. Not only in relation Security Policy of the Slovak Republic 40 The attitude of the Slovak government during the Kosovo crisis was clearly pro-Western. Without any hesitation, Slovakia opened both the air space (and, subsequently, the land space) for NATO military technology. 203
