Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

22 September 2003

ESDP

• According to the Financial Times, Prime Minister Blair set out to patch up Britain’s strained relationship with France and Germany at the weekend by backing plans for more EU cooperation on defense. At an informal summit in Berlin, Blair, President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder narrowed differences over plans to give the EU a military planning capability independent of NATO, says the daily. It quotes an internal document approved by the three leaders in Berlin saying: “The European Union should be endowed with a joint capacity to plan and conduct operations without recourse to NATO resources and capabilities. Our goal remains to achieve such a planning and implementation capacity either in consensus with the 25 (member states) but also in a circle of interested partners.” The newspaper cites British officials saying Blair was convinced the EU needed a military planning capability that was independent of NATO, provided it was not set up to compete with the Alliance. It quotes unidentified German officials saying that in a symbolic gesture, Paris and Berlin could agree to the military center being located within SHAPE headquarters. A related article in the German weekly Der Spiegel says it is envisioned that the new operational headquarters would have a staff of 40 or 50 officers. Describing Blair’s purported backing of the Franco-German plans as “a major shift in British defense policy,” the Daily Telegraph notes, however, that at a news conference in Berlin Saturday, Blair played down the long-term threat to NATO, stressing: “I think we can see now that European defense is actually taking place, is engaged in real activity on the ground in different parts of the world.” The newspaper further notes that while a statement by the German government appeared to present the deal as a major concession by Britain, Downing Street flatly denied that Britain had abandoned its core policy of linkage to NATO. A British official is quoted saying: “We’re all for a European defense policy but it has to be compatible with NATO.” In a related development, AFP reports that the Polish Foreign Ministry insisted Sunday that Poland backs the principle of European defense provided it does not duplicate the structures of NATO. Commenting on the Berlin summit, a ministry spokesman reportedly stressed: “Poland supports the construction of a European defense identity, as it is basic to the (EU). Provided this construction takes place in agreement with the structures of NATO, provided it does not duplicate these structures and does not weaken the transatlantic security that Europe has built over more than 50 years, we will support it."
  
  
• According to Financial Times Deutschland, Sept. 19, Germany and its three project partners want to push down the price for the Eurofighter aircraft. The newspaper quotes German government circles saying Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy are negotiating with the producers of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), Bae Systems, and Alenia about a change to the price adjustment clause. The newspaper notes that this clause is supposed to automatically compensate for the increase in costs until the end of the project.

IRAQ

• Ankara’s TRT 2 television quoted the Office of the General Staff (OCGS) announcing that a Turkish liaison team had been sent to Baghdad in order to establish coordination between the Turkish and U.S. units serving in northern Iraq. CNN Turk television, Sept. 21, claimed that the OCGS had decided to step up its work regarding Iraq. “A National Security Council meeting Friday did not adopt a recommendation on the issue but the general policy that has been put forth is that Turkish troops will eventually go to Iraq,” said the broadcast. It added that the OCGS has taken action in a bid to conclude its work before the issue is placed on the National Assembly’s agenda. Turkish Daily News quoted a high-level government source saying the Turkish government is inclined to seek the passage of a parliamentary motion providing it with the authority to send troops to Iraq before deciding whether or not to send forces to this country. On Friday, Turkey’s political and military leaders discussed ways Turkey could contribute to stability in Iraq but stopped short of backing a troop deployment requested by the United States, the newspaper adds.