VZCZCXRO0523
PP RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHUP #0103/01 0531538
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221538Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4929
INFO RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0495
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUDAPEST 000103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE MOORE, RPM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2015 
TAGS: MOPS MAPP NATO PREL HU
SUBJECT: HUNGARY'S NON-PAPER ON NATO'S NEW STRATEGIC CONCEPT 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Jon Martinson, reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1. (SBU) The MFA's NATO Office Director, Eszter Sandorfi, 
provided PolOff a copy of the following Hungarian Non-paper 
on NATO's new strategic concept Februray 19. 
 
¶2. (C) The non-paper text, dated February 2010, follows: 
 
Begin text 
 
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Core principles, collective defence and new threats 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
- The Strategic Concept must clearly reaffirm our common 
commitment to collective defence, as enshrined in Article 5 
of the Washington Treaty, as the core purpose of the 
Alliance.  Article 5 is, and must remain, the most effective 
guarantee we have for maintaining peace in the Euro-Atlantic 
area. 
 
- We must maintain our preparedness to conduct our core 
mission (through, among others, contingency planning, joint 
exercises and an effective NATO Response Force - NRF), even 
as we continue to assert that the Alliance does not consider 
itself to be any country's adversary. 
 
- Security challenges in the decade to come will entail 
scenarios not originally perceived under Article 5. Given the 
broad range of new security threats, we should maintain a 
degree of strategic flexibility sufficient to keep responses 
to unforeseen challenges open. 
 
- The formulation of NATO's general approach to new threats 
should recognize that there will be instances when the 
Alliance should not or cannot be the primary forum for action. 
 
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NATO's political role in Euro-Atlantic security 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
- We must preserve and enhance the Alliance as the foremost 
political embodiment of the transatlantic community. The 
principles of the indivisibility of our shared security and 
solidarity among all allies must guide our thinking about the 
role of the Alliance in an increasingly complex global 
security environment. 
 
- NATO remains the central pillar of the Euro-Atlantic 
security structure. While discussions on how to enhance 
interaction among the structure's components can be useful, 
there is no room to call into question NATO's place within 
the architecture. 
 
- As the very concept of security continues to expand, an 
ever broader range of issues, such as cyber defence and 
energy security, will require our political attention. In 
this regard, Alliance solidarity should be further reinforced 
through the essential role played by political consultations, 
as defined in Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. 
 
- Besides their defensive and deterrence value, military 
capabilities remain a potent political symbol of the 
indivisibility of Alliance security. NATO's nuclear policy 
should continue to play a key role in this regard.  A 
potential Alliance missile defence architecture would also be 
a powerful political demonstration of how NATO can respond 
collectively to new threats. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Enlargement, the Western Balkans and Partnerships 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
- We must continue to uphold our firm commitment to NATO's 
open door policy. While the European landscape has changed 
dramatically in the last 20 years, the basic idea behind 
Article 10 of the Washington Treaty has lost none of its 
relevance. The purposes and principles of enlargement as 
defined in the 1995 Study on NATO Enlargement remain valid. 
 
- We must stress that the accession process is performance- 
and merit-driven. States that have gone through the process 
must be assured that the final decision on membership rests 
exclusively with the allies themselves. 
 
- We need to send a clear positive message to the Western 
Balkans, particularly with regard to the open door policy. 
 
BUDAPEST 00000103  002 OF 002 
 
 
Attending to "unfinished business" in the region means that 
NATO will continue to have an important role to play in terms 
of maintaining and consolidating security and stability. In 
the end, those countries fulfilling the 
stringent requirements for membership should be able to join 
the Alliance. 
 
- The interconnectedness and complexity of many modern day 
security challenges means that NATO and Russia can and should 
work together on a range of issues. We should, therefore, 
continue the process of enhancing our relationship, keeping 
the channels of political dialogue open, while focusing on 
pragmatic and tangible cooperation in those areas where we 
can further objectives related to genuine common interests. 
At the same time, Alliance solidarity and cohesion must be 
upheld, and reciprocity emphasized, in our dealings with 
Russia. 
 
- Deepening NATO-EU ties must remain on the Alliance's 
agenda. We must capitalize on the essential benefits to be 
reaped from enhanced NATO-EU cooperation, which range from a 
more efficient allocation of limited resources to enhancing 
coordination in responses to security challenges. 
 
- NATO's various partnership structures will become 
increasingly relevant as security challenges continue to 
assume a global nature. A shared vision and shared interests 
with respect to common challenges should continue to form the 
basis of our partnerships.  Recognizing the role partners 
have already played in contributing to Alliance operations, 
we should remain open to deepening these relationships. 
 
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Capabilities 
------------ 
 
- In order to address the entire spectrum of future 
challenges, the Strategic Concept should give renewed impetus 
to the transformation process. In terms of guiding the 
process, the 2006 Comprehensive Political Guidance remains 
highly relevant. 
 
- As the Level of Ambition of the Alliance expresses the 
ultimate guidance for capability development, its 
determination merits our highest political attention. Since 
military capabilities provide the Alliance with a specific 
tool for achieving its core objectives, it is credible 
military capabilities that form the foundations of credible 
political ambitions. 
 
- The complex and costly nature of required capabilities 
limits the vast majority of member states from developing or 
acquiring the full range of assets individually. The Alliance 
must therefore adopt innovative solutions to overcome 
potential shortfalls. We should, in particular, put a strong 
emphasis on the potential advantages of multinational 
co-operation in the field 
of capability development. It is also important to find the 
right proportion between the different funding mechanisms the 
Alliance presently employs. 
 
- The new Strategic Concept should also reinforce the 
requirement to further strengthen a coherent, coordinated and 
mutually reinforcing capability development between NATO and 
the EU. 
 
End text 
KOUNALAKIS