Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

30 September 2003

NATO

• Polish magazine Newsweek Polska, Sept. 28, quotes Polish Ambassador to NATO Jerzy Nowak saying: “NATO has serious plans concerning Poland. As early as in 2006, training of NATO troops will commence in our country. That will be handled by the Combined Troop Training Center in Bydgoszcz. The center will be subordinated to the American commander at the NATO Combined Transformation Command in Norfolk, U.S. The command at Norfolk and the center in Poland will be the new brain of NATO. Their objective will be to transform Alliance troops into light units that can readily smash nests of terrorism in the most remote nooks and crannies of the globe.” Moreover, the magazine reports that when it interviewed Gen. Jones, he admitted that “The center of NATO’s activities is moving eastward.” Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, reportedly estimates that about 100 officers from various countries, including 30 Poles, will serve at the training center. The Minister was also quoted saying: “From my talks with U.S. Gen. Jones and Gen. Myers I know that work on relocating the bases is under way at the governmental level in the U.S.” Czech daily Lidove Noviny, Sept. 27, writes that the command and base of a multinational warfare battalion, a special anti-chemical warfare unit with which the Czech Republic is to contribute to the NATO Rapid Response Force, will be established on January 1, 2004, in Liberec. The battalion, which is to comprise 400 to 500 soldiers - some 280 of whom are to be Czech -should be ready for deployment as of the beginning of July 2004.
  
  
• Russian information agency ITAR-TASS, Sept. 29, quotes Lord Robertson saying in a letter to the President of Turkmenistan: “The NATO bloc is ready to assist with the development of an individual program of partnership with Turkmenistan for 2004-2005.”

ESDP

• The Italian government has presented to the EU partners a mediation proposal on the future crisis-management structure, with a view to conciliating the residual divergences between Germany, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg on one hand, and Great Britain on the other, commented Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera, Sept. 28. It will be a “virtual European Headquarters”, but capable of becoming operative in a few hours, in the country best suited “to the planning and leading of a military operation” without having to resort to NATO expedients, explains the newspaper. The idea launched by Italy, continues the daily, is to strengthen, case by case, the headquarters of the country best suited to manage a crisis, with officials drawn from various countries (two from each) and already prepared for the purpose, by means also of exchanges among the European military staffs. The daily notes that the Italian idea, discussed by Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino with his British, German, Spanish, and French colleagues during last week, had already circulated during the summer. Nevertheless, the defense and security policy turning point came about last weekend in Berlin, during the meeting among German Chancellor Schroeder, French President Chirac and British Prime Minister Blair, where the latter stated for the first time that he favors the “need to render the EU capable of planning and leading military actions” independently of NATO, continues the paper. De Standaard, Sept. 27, writes in a related article that Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt’s statement in the Financial Times Deutschland that he no longer regards Tervuren as a must, is an additional sign that an agreement is in the making. Le Monde, Sept. 27, reports that France is creating a high command to be established in Lille, which involves a multinational command post that can be set up to prepare operational planning for a NATO-type high reaction force, and could lead combined operations with an army corps of 30,000 to 50,000 men. The daily speculates that this command, intended to give the French Army “the capacity to be the first to enter a theater of operations”, is expected to come into being within the next three years.

OPERATION CONCORDIA

• The expiry of the EU Concordia mission mandate, the security situation in Macedonia (sic) and the reforms of its defense system were discussed Monday at a meeting between Macedonian (sic) Defense Minister Vlado Buckowski and Admiral Reiner Feist, Deputy SACEUR and commander of operation Concordia, reports Skopje-based news agency MIA, Sept. 29. Admiral Feist reportedly said that the international military presence in FYROM would come to an end on December 15, adding that the EU-led forces will withdraw in the next three weeks. Both Defense Minister Buckowski and Admiral Feist assessed that progress had been made in regard to Macedonia (sic)’s stabilization, creating conditions for the country to maintain its own stability and security, according to a press release by the Macedonian (sic) Defense Ministry.