Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

27 November 2003

GERMANY-BUNDESWEHR-NRF

• In what it sees as a rebuff of Defense Minister Struck’s efforts, Berliner Zeitung reports that Germany’s SPD-Green majority in Parliament is not ready to streamline the approval procedures for Bundeswehr operations abroad. The newspaper quotes a domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group stressing that every military operation would still have to be approved by the plenary of the Bundestag. According to the newspaper, the spokesman stressed that the SPD and Greens agree that these authorizations must not be delegated to a Bundestag committee. He added that the same applied to operations of NATO’s Response Force. The newspaper adds that SPD and Green parliamentarians are prepared to make concessions to Struck on only one issue: reconnaissance missions and similar small deployments should be regarded as approved in the future if no parliamentary group of the Bundestag expressed reservations within one week. Otherwise, such mandates, too, would have to be discussed and approved by the plenary of the parliament. The newspaper notes that the spokesman rejected the argument that some operations were too urgent to wait for three readings in the Bundestag. If need be, the members of parliament could grant a mandate within two days, he reportedly insisted.

ISAF

• Amid suggestions that Afghanistan will be high on the agenda of the Alliance's foreign and defense ministers meeting in Brussels next week, the Wall Street Journal remarks that “NATO is struggling to fulfill its promise to broaden peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan because of serious equipment and troop shortfalls.” Nearly two months after pledging to send peacekeepers beyond Kabul, NATO is scrambling to find more helicopters, transport aircraft, soldiers and personnel to run the Kabul airport. These gaps which complicate even the existing Kabul operation, could slow ISAF’s expansion to Afghanistan’s far-flung and unruly provinces, stresses the newspaper. As violence and instability continue to plague Afghanistan ahead of national elections and a constitutional assembly, it adds, NATO’s delay in venturing outside Kabul highlights the difficulty of maintaining long-term peace in the country and point to Europe’s military problems. The article stresses, however, that “the stakes are high both for Afghanistan—where peace remains increasingly fragile—and for NATO, which has staked its credibility on the Afghan mission.” The article quotes senior NATO officials saying that they will have an operational plan for the expanded mission ready early next year, and that they hope more countries will send troops.

ESDP

• According to the Financial Times, Britain, France and Germany held special talks in Berlin Wednesday night to reach agreement on how the EU could create an independent planning unit for any military missions carried out separately from NATO. The newspaper quotes diplomats saying officials at Wednesday’s talks were hoping to draw up a draft defense paper in time for this weekend’s meeting in Naples of EU foreign ministers and those from the candidate countries. “If we don’t present the paper in Naples, we might do something at NATO next when the defense and foreign ministers will be meeting. This draft paper will be a very delicate exercise,” the newspaper quotes a diplomat saying. It notes that the paper will set out how the EU can establish such a planning unit and what kind of relationship it would have with SHAPE.
  
  
• The British government said Wednesday it will reject an Italian draft of the new European Constitution because it would remove member states’ veto on foreign policy, reported the BBC World Service. The broadcast quoted a Foreign Office spokesman saying the draft by Italy, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency was unacceptable and would be rejected. The spokesman reportedly acknowledged, however, that the draft remained the basis for more discussions by EU foreign ministers at their Naples meeting. A related article in the Financial Times stresses that under the Italian scheme, the future EU foreign minister could propose action in a particular field and have it agreed by majority vote.