Kraków

The informal meet got under way with a conference on Euro-Atlantic security, with a keynote speech given by the Alliance’s head, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who said that NATO needs a new strategic concept, as currently NATO is working to a bill drawn up in 1999: before 9/11 and the new age of terrorism in the 21st century. The NATO head also proposed a new six point plan that should be taken into account when defining the new role of NATO.

Collective action is what is needed, then, but what about the money to support such actions? Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said during the conference that there should be joint financial backing for NATO-wide security purchases.

But no matter how much money is to spent on the NATO or any other military activity, some are not pleased at all. The alliance’s meet has been met with protest by anarchist movements in Kraków, including the Anarchist Federation, which is planning an “anti-summit” at the same time.

Will NATO’s new strategic plan be able to weather the global financial strain? That will be answered at the main summit in April, but for now the alliance is finding ways to prove its very existence in the 21^st century.

Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by John Beauchamp.