Speech Pisarski

Check against the deliveryNEW SECURITY CHALLENGES IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION18TH. Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference,Nyborg, 1 September 2009Ladies and gentlemen,it is my honor and pleasure to speak at the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference.In my presentation, I am going to focus on new challenges for security in the Baltic Sea region, which from a global perspective is actually a sub-region within a broader Europe. This geopolitical definition indicates that the majority of the new threats that we have to deal with is of a broader and even universal nature - with some important local characteristics.Given the limited time frame of the session I will be able just to outline the most important – in my belief – problems. Some of them have been already discussed at the conference and same will be discussed during this session. I should also mention that theses challenges have been already taken on by the Baltic Sea countries within different frameworks of the regional, European and even global cooperation. However, the parliamentarians of the Baltic Sea countries have contributed a great deal to stimulate response to them.Ladies and gentlemen,Europe remains a stable area in which military power is not a factor that defines the position of a country in the international order. The fall of the communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War made our Continent more stable. The European Union - strengthened by deeper integration and enlarged by new members, also from the Baltic Sea region – has become an international player with global ambitions. After two decades of a successful European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Poland and the Baltic states, the Baltic See area became more secure, prosperous and interdependent.Yet, the beginning of the new century, marked by an unprecedented violence instigated by international terrorism and some negative aspects of the globalization brought about new threats and made external and internal aspects of security strongly interconnected. Even though, there is no risk of a military conflict in Europe, at least in the short run, the outbreak of hostilities in Caucasus last year increased the role of the power factor. We cannot also forget about the so-called frozen conflict, which still occupy an important place on the international agenda.In a world undergoing rapid globalization changes, developments in distant regions can have a strong impact on our part of the globe. Security challenges and threats arising elsewhere influence the situation in our vicinity. Although the Baltic region seems to be stable in comparison to other places of the world, some factors that are present here may generate new risks in the future too.There are certain threats stemming from political instability in many parts of the globe, accompanied by radical movements and ideologies, which reject democratic values. Because of modern technologies one cannot say any longer that problems e.g. in Afghanistan do not affect people in our countries. Terrorist activities are the most acute threat. The tragic incidents in some European countries over the last few years require our vigilance and our readiness. Especially, the protection of critical infrastructure related to transport and energy security should be in our focus.The key element securing stability in military matters on the European continent has been the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe of 1990. The Russian decision to suspend its participation in the CFE regime was a serious setback to the post Cold War confidence and security building efforts in Europe.The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical and biological is the threat which over the last years has been growing despite international efforts to eliminate it. The possibility that weapons of mass destruction may be acquired by terrorist groups is real. In order to avert this threat, smuggling of fissile materials must be successfully prevented and financing of terrorist groups stopped. Particular attention ought to be devoted to the biological agents, because it is not so difficult and financially demanding, to produce them.Ladies and gentlemen,Since last year we have been all confronted with the global financial and economic crisis. It has hit all our economies, though we suffer in various degrees. Some countries in our region have experienced a dramatic contraction of their GDP accompanied by bankruptcies, collapse of banking and rise in unemployment rate. Some experts claim that the situation tends to improve but markets are still volatile. As we – as the international community - are more and more interdependent, we must act in the spirit of solidarity.The restoration of economic growth requires also a better security of energy supplies. There is a growing awareness in Europe of the need to develop alternative sources and routes of energy supplies in order to avoid dependence from one source only. Ensuring a proper energy mix, developing energy efficient technologies and renewable sources of energy as well as interconnectors between different systems in the Baltic Sea region have become meaningful steps in enhancing energy security. It is important to stress that any purposeful disruption of energy supplies, for whatever reason, including political one, is unacceptable.Energy producers will seek to develop new sources, previously not accessible because of hard exploration conditions. Arctic, not far away from the Baltic region, is becoming a place of a particular interest. Claims to the Arctic shelf have already been voiced by adjacent countries. Let us hope that these claims will be dealt with in a peaceful manner and would not lead to tensions.The awareness of another risk to our security – climate change – has been steadily growing over the past decades. Climate change creates new and aggravates negative processes that have already existed. These two problems - diminishing energy resources and climate change - pose a threat to international security by aggravating the rivalry over energy resources and by diminishing the prospects for the economic development. At the same time, one should bear in mind that some nations will soon face existential problems as the temperature grows - and subsequently - the sea level rises. If dark scenarios are realized, the consequences of this process would certainly affect the coastlines of all Baltic Sea countries, creating fundamental problems to people living in the affected areas.I know that you have been discussing these issues extensively as the Final Report of the Working Group on Energy and Climate Change shows. In the run-up to the COP-15 in Copenhagen the issue will be one of the priorities. (Reference to COP-14 in Poznan last year).One cannot overestimate the importance of measures to protect the Baltic Sea against toxic wastes originating from industry and ships. The efforts should include also co-operation with Belarus and Ukraine, because industry wastes generated there finally end-up in the Baltic too.Much has been already done in the field of environmental protection in the Baltic region, but the task is far from being completed. We should avoid any economic activities that could harm the quality of Baltic waters and endanger sea species.We are concerned that one such project, namely Nord Stream gas pipeline, can adversely affect the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea. In the past, thousands of tonnes of munitions have been disposed of in the sea, including 13 000 tonnes containing chemical agents. According to some reports, industry wastes with dioxins and old mines were dumped in the Gulf of Finland. If the gas pipeline is to be built, the danger would arise that these poisonous chemicals might be freed to the waters. We expect the investor to make an inventory of the chemical weapons and other toxic substances deposited in the Baltic See bed, in the vicinity of the planned pipeline. It is also important to prepare a precise study of the impact of the project on the wild life in the See and on the fishing industry.Another challenge pertains to criminality in the net. The so-called cyber-attacks are rapidly growing in number and scope worldwide. They pose a particular threat to governmental agencies. Jamming up commercial and government websites of Estonia in the spring of 2007 was widely commented. The attacks involved “bombing” websites with tens of thousands of hits with the intention to overload the servers and force computers to crash. A year after the incident NATO launched a new training centre (Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence) in Tallinn dedicated to combating such threat. The cyber-attacks may grow as a weapon of choice for transnational terrorists because they provide a relatively inexpensive means to disrupt global communications. In order to better cope with this big challenge we should combine our resources and expertise within the Baltic co-operation framework.A special attention should be given to preventing the spread of contagious diseases which constitute a new type of security challenges. Modern times have seen unprecedented progress in eradicating some diseases, but new threats have emerged. In the Baltic Sea area we are also affected, though to various degree, by the swine-flu pandemic, by tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, which in some parts of the region has spread rapidly.Ladies and gentlemen,The European Union is moving fast towards adoption of its Baltic Sea strategy. Even though, the strategy has an internal character, it doesn’t mean that the European Union has become less interested in cooperation with other countries in the region, which are not members of the Union. We believe that the Northern Dimension should continue to serve as a framework for such cooperation. Moreover, the Council of the Baltic Sea States should play an active role in the implementation of the Strategy. The Northern Dimension offers an opportunity to combine the Strategy`s external issues with those discussed at other for of the regional cooperation.One of the priorities of the Baltic Sea strategy is strengthening security, especially in areas like: maritime safety, dealing with crisis situations and combating trans-border organized crime. Poland is interested in playing a leading role in the implementation of several projects, including maritime safety (e.g. by providing training for the seamen and -women) and cooperation in dealing with the chemical weapons dumped in the Baltic Sea.Ladies and gentlemen,Countries of the Baltic Sea region benefited from the termination of the cold war in political, economic and strategic terms. Yet, there are issues like: access to energy resources, the transport infrastructure, the maritime safety, environmental protection, etc. that require close cooperation of the countries from the region. Enhancing such cooperation, building new linkages and strengthening a positive interdependence is in our interest. Taking on new challenges to the security in the Baltic Sea area should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen such links. Thank you.