25-05-2025
NATO Parliamentary president: Keeping organization health worth the price
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — In an exclusive one-on-one interview with 2 NEWS, the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly said much can be learned from the past, particularly the Bosnia-Serbia conflict that was ended with the Dayton Accords 30 years ago.
'The example that we should take immediately from that intervention is that through strength you can get peace,' said Marcos Perestrello. 'Without strength you will be vulnerable, and you won't be able to achieve peace.'
While the lesson is the same, the game has changed. Now the U.S. and other NATO allies are forced to combat modern threats like cyberattacks.
'All NATO countries are very concerned with cybersecurity and are prepared to increase the defense capabilities on that area.'
He said keeping NATO healthy requires a large financial investment, but it's worth the price.
'Establish what each country needs to give to NATO, to contribute to NATO, to assure the ability of NATO to defend the 1 billion citizens of the countries of the member countries,' said Perestrello.
He realizes every NATO member country needs to play their part to continue to defend each other.
'I believe that at the end, what the U.S. administration wants is a stronger NATO, and we want the same,' Perestrello said.
But without having each member nation on the same page, that could be a difficult task.
'Strategic goals involving things like military spending…That is also something that has to unite NATO as an ideal that all of us share,' said Tino Cuéllar, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The panel discussion largely involved ideas surrounding a Center for Democratic Resilience within NATO, with many of the panelist saying the work never ends because democracy takes everyone.
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