CIAO DATE: 01/04

How Can the Transatlantic Community Help Build Peace, Prosperity, and Security in the Greater Middle East?

Abstract

The Marshall Plan fostered a fundamental sense of security among the war - weary populations of Western Europe - a firm belief that tomorrow would be better than the day before. The Plan helped pave the way for economic integration, and contributed to the integration of West Germany into the North Atlantic Alliance.

By making its massive economic assistance to Western Europe contingent on close co-operation between the countries in the region, the USA played an invaluable role in facilitating European integration and stability. I believe this should serve as a reminder that solving security problems goes far beyond military means alone, - It did so then - it does so now.

The Marshall Plan is one of the main reasons why NATO became the most successful military alliance in modern history. Another reason is that NATO is much more than a military alliance - it is an alliance of shared values and aims that must entail co-operation and common action beyond military matters. NATO is in many ways the primary embodiment of the successful transatlantic community. The Atlantic Alliance has been a core instrument in expanding the area of stability and democracy in Europe through successive enlargements and constantly expanding co-operation with partner countries. Peace, prosperity and security in Europe - as envisaged by George Marshall - seem, in practice, to have been achieved.

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