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SHAPE
News Summary & Analysis
27
October 2003
NATO
- In
an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Oct. 26, NATO Secretary
General Robertson discussed NATO’s future and the EU’s
defense plans. Asked
where NATO should improve, he replied: “The military
capabilities of the Europeans. The gap to the superpower
United States is growing and growing. The governments in Berlin,
Paris and other European capitals are beginning to adjust
their military to the new challenges. Forces that cannot be
deployed across long distances within a short time are no
longer worth much. NATO must go to those places where the
dangers originate. Nowadays, the European members
have 1.4 million soldiers all together, another million are
in reserve. But only 55,000 soldiers are suitable for missions
abroad. Such armies exist only on paper.” Regarding
ESDP, Lord Robertson warned that competition would
be very harmful for both NATO and the EU.
He said: “This would be a waste of money, energy and
time. The Europeans can use the resources of NATO
for their own missions…. In the Balkans NATO and the
EU proved they can cooperate successfully. If they follow
separate paths, they will fail.”
Defense
Minister Struck’s suggestion, at a conference of Germany’s
Social Democratic Party in Berlin, that an EU defense planning
cell could be located at SHAPE is noted by the International
Herald Tribune.
Under the title, “German says EU planning unit should
be attached to NATO,” the article describes Struck’s
statement as an effort to diminish the U.S. mistrust of a European
defense. The article notes that although Germany has joined
with France in April to announce the creation of a European
Union defense group with a military planning unit separate from
NATO, Struck has now said for the first time that no separate
headquarters is necessary and that a planning staff for eventual
operations under solely European auspices should be attached
to NATO. According to the newspaper, this largely tracks with
the position of Britain.
Arguing that “it is almost pointless to fight over a European
military staff,” Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Oct. 25, opined
meanwhile that “the dispute seems laughable when one looks
at what this military headquarters is to have command over.”
The newspaper said: “The European NATO members have at
their disposal over 2.8 million soldiers in uniform, 1,4 million
more than the United States. But they are only in a position,
with effort and after some time, to detail 60,000 men for the
project.” Acknowledging, however, that “the headquarters
dispute is not without a certain symbolic force,” the
article warned that “detaching the United States from
Europe cannot be in Germany’s interest.”
In a related development, AFP reports that Foreign Minister
Michel insisted Sunday that Belgium was not trying to undermine
NATO with plans to establish an autonomous EU military planning
and command center. “We must support NATO of
course, but a European defense would strengthen NATO,”
he reportedly told Belgian television, adding that Europe should
be allowed “to develop strategies which are completely
autonomous.”
SHAPE-PACIFIST
DEMONSTRATION
Saturday’s
demonstration at SHAPE by the pacifist organization “Bomspotters”
generated prominent interest. Media highlighted that half of
those taking part in the demonstration were arrested, including
some parliamentarians. They pointed out the impressive amount
of forces deployed for the action. The overall assessment was
that SHAPE’s inviolability was preserved and that no major
incident occurred.
Brussels’ Le Soir writes that at the end of the day, police
and organizers agreed that out of a total of about 1,000 demonstrators,
500 were the subject of an administrative arrest. The newspaper
says: “The police insisted that SHAPE’s inviolability
had been preserved. The police had neither been shy about the
means used nor the cost of the operation. There were twice as
many law enforcement personnel as demonstrators. Supported by
680 military, police protected a 6.2 km fence. A helicopter
was overflying the zone and anti-riot water cannon were available
to intervene. They only had to intervene twice. The cavalry,
sniffing dogs and civil protection organizations completed the
arsenal.” In all, writes AFP, up to 55 people managed
to enter the SHAPE compound and three were slightly injured
while scaling the fence, but they were immediately arrested
and there was no violence. The dispatch stresses that security
was particularly tight since the demonstration came a year after
a similar protest at the Kleine Brogel military base, which
was entered by 500 people. It adds: “Nearly 2,200 police
and troops backed with helicopters were on hand to keep control
of the demonstration. SHAPE’s own security forces
were not involved in dealing with the protesters, although they
were on hand if anyone had penetrated further into the actual
buildings themselves. ‘We (were) prepared,’ said
SHAPE spokesman Lt. Col. Beilmann, adding that such demonstrations
‘are a right in a democracy.’” AP
remarks that authorities gathered around SHAPE in massive numbers
easily outnumbering the protesters. Because the action had been
announced well in advance, authorities had organized a major
security operation around the base, adds the dispatch. La Libre
Belgique and La Province comment that the action resembled a
large cat and mouse game. La Province highlights that the average
age of the demonstrators was below 20 years old. It notes that
while the cost of the action has not yet been assessed, it is
already deemed considerable. Belgian television networks highlighted
that no major incident occurred and agreed that SHAPE’s
inviolability was preserved. Some networks raised the prospect
that a similar protest could be repeated next year. Flemish
daily De Standaard quoted a Bomspotters spokesman saying that
in a future action the organization would attempt to dismantle
nuclear weapons.
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