Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

21 October 2003

NATO-ESDP

Amid reports of a transatlantic rift over the EU’s defense ambitions, a meeting of NATO ambassadors Monday, which examined the issue, is under intense media scrutiny.

A damaging split between the United States and Europe over plans for a European military headquarters in competition with NATO was averted Monday. The United States was given a promise that it would be consulted fully before the EU went ahead with any proposals to develop an expanded military role that might include a separate planning headquarters, reports The Times. The newspaper adds that at a special NAC meeting Monday, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, was told that the EU had five options for developing a stronger defense capability but that no decision had been made. The United States was assured that it would be involved in the talks, stresses the daily.

The International Herald Tribune quotes a NATO spokesman saying European countries “went to great pains” to assure the United States that a European military project would be designed to complement NATO and would minimize duplication. The newspaper stresses, however, that it was unclear whether the meeting resolved the key question at the heart of American concerns: that a European Union military headquarters could conduct planning and operations outside NATO supervision and control.

Le Figaro writes that the United States was reassured Monday by “professions of faith in Atlanticism” by the NATO ambassadors. The article says: “Concerned at seeing European defense initiatives develop behind their backs, the Americans demanded ‘clear and transparent’ explanations from their allies. The talks offered an opportunity for each delegation to restate its commitment to NATO, an organization that remains ‘at the heart of Europe’s joint defense.’ The Europeans explained their projects at length to the Americans, stressing that they were not competing with NATO.”

NATO diplomats sought Monday to calm a simmering transatlantic row over plans to boost the EU’s defense capacity, which have sparked U.S. warnings against undermining the Alliance, writes AFP. The dispatch quotes a NATO official saying after Monday’s talks that Europe was being completely open about its plans. “What the EU made clear to the U.S. is there are various proposals on the table and the discussions are carrying on. EU allies were only too happy to be able to sit down with the U.S. and clarify the status of all these proposals,” the official reportedly said. A related article in The Guardian notes a NATO spokesman insisted that the “transparent” discussion had reassured the United States.

NATO’s European allies sought to reassure the United States Monday there was no risk their plans for a robust and independent military arm would undermine the Alliance. Britain also spelt out it had crossed no “red lines” to a camp led by France and Germany, whose lofty ambitions for EU defense Washington suspects are a bid to challenge NATO’s primacy as guarantor of European security, writes Reuters. The dispatch considers that “the relative bonhomie” of Monday’s meeting set the scene for a smooth encounter between the EU and NATO ambassadors later on Tuesday. But, the dispatch notes, diplomats said France and Germany were still irritated by Washington’s demand to be part of the EU’s defense debate before negotiations on its constitution are over. They predicted that more troubled waters lay ahead.

A commentary in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung acknowledges that theoretically, plans for an autonomous EU military planning and command capability could weaken NATO. The article opines, however, that in practice, reason, realism, and tight finance will prevent that. “It would be foolish if the Europeans tried to organize an arrangement that competes with NATO. An immense material expenditure would be required which would mean nothing but the squandering of limited resources, not to mention the political price,” says the newspaper.

ISAF

• In the opinion of Gen. Kujat, Chairman NAMILCOM, NATO countries will have to provide more troops to ISAF, wrote Munich’s Focus, Oct. 20. The article quoted Gen. Kujat saying the dispatch of up to 450 further Bundeswehr soldiers “is not the end. There is something in store for all.”

SHAPE

• Le Soir reports that after having carried out actions at the Kleine Brogel military base for several years to protest the presence of nuclear weapons on Belgian soil, the members of the Bomspotting pacifist organization are changing their tactics. They have decided to directly address those who draw up the plans for the use of these weapons. The newspaper adds: “Saturday, the ‘bomspotters’ will carry out an action against SHAPE headquarters and will try to get inside the base to carry out their own investigation…. SHAPE officials and the Mons police are ready and waiting for them.”