THE PRESIDENT
LE PRÉSIDENT
To all NATO PA members
11 December, 2024
Dear colleague,
It is an honour and privilege to have been elected as the Assembly’s President at our session
in Montréal. I want to thank you for your trust.
At this critical time, our Assembly must play its full part in helping shape NATO’s response to
an increasingly dangerous and competitive security environment which will test our unity,
solidarity and determination. The
Assembly’s 70
th
anniversary,
which we will celebrate
throughout 2025, will offer a timely opportunity to highlight the relevance and importance of our
work as well as to pursue our priorities with renewed resolve.
First, I am determined to pursue President Connolly’s efforts to
reaffirm NATO’s democratic
foundations
and to press for the creation of a Centre for Democratic Resilience at
NATO Headquarters. Because democracy is the best guarantee for peace. I made this clear
in my first meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte earlier this month in Brussels.
Second, we must continue to
bolster the unique bond between Europe and North America.
To do this,
we Europeans need to step up.
The only way to do this is by strengthening
Europe’s contribution to transatlantic security and by strengthening our industrial capacity.
Because there is no peace without strong and credible defence and deterrence and no strong
and credible defence and deterrence without strong and credible capabilities. As
parliamentarians, we must support this effort. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has a long-
standing partnership with the European Parliament, which we are currently expanding as part
of our partnership reform. But we need to go further. That is why I would like to propose that
the European Parliament and the NATO PA work together on a new mechanism to monitor
and evaluate the development of NATO-EU cooperation – in full complementarity.
Third, we need to
help Ukraine win.
This war is the existential struggle of our generation, and
we cannot allow the Russian dictator to prevail – otherwise we will be faced with catastrophic
consequences. As elected representatives of our people, we have a crucial role in pushing
back against the creeping ‘Ukraine fatigue’ and urging our governments to increase and
accelerate the support to Ukraine, including by advancing Ukraine’s path to
NATO membership. I count on your continued leadership on this fundamental priority.
Lastly, our Assembly invests extensively in the parliamentary track of engagement with
NATO partners. Strong as our Alliance is, when faced with threats of such magnitude, we must
continue
expanding the network of friends both in our direct neighbourhood and far
beyond.
In particular, we need to forge a dialogue with major non-aligned democracies, such
as India and Brazil. This is a vital prerequisite for an effective 360-degree approach to security.
I therefore intend to explore the possibility of presidential visits to at least some major
democracies outside the Euro-Atlantic area.