EU not ready for Bosnia, says US

Date: 05/06/03

By Karen Carstens

SEVERAL EU diplomats were reportedly taken aback by the "forcefulness" of a move by Washington to cool Brussels' ambitions to take over peacekeeping in Bosnia from NATO by the middle of 2004.

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Madrid on Tuesday (3 June), a senior US official said much still remained to be done in Bosnia, including rounding up indicted war crimes suspects, stamping out threats of terrorism and uniting the country's divided society.

"The time is not right to begin the discussion," the official reportedly said. "The security situation is better but we still have 12,000 troops there and we don't see that coming down soon. It would be better, for the EU, if we were talking about a smaller force."

EU officials in attendance said they had opted not to express their dismay at a meeting where the emphasis was on patching up the transatlantic rift caused by the war in Iraq. At the same time, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Madrid that the Union was not disappointed by the US stance.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou echoed this sentiment: "The question put on the table by some of our allies, and particularly the United States, is of preparedness and time.

"It's not a difference of principle, as I understand the position," he added.

The EU's fledgling Rapid Reaction Force made its debut in peacekeeping operations in April, sending a 350-strong force to the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

US officials have suggested that the EU will not be capable of taking over the role of NATO peacekeeping forces in Bosnia in the middle of 2004.