Solana attacked over NATO role in EU defence policy

Date: 24/02/2000

By Simon Taylor

EU FOREIGN policy supremo Javier Solana has come under fire from some Union governments over controversial plans to involve NATO in shaping the EU's new security and defence policy.

Critics claim the former NATO secretary-general's proposals would give the transatlantic military alliance too much influence over decisions on how and when the Union should intervene in a crisis.

The row has been sparked by two papers drawn up by Solana ahead of an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Portugal next week. One diplomat said the proposals smacked of a "NATO takeover".

The dispute goes to the heart of arguments about whether the Union's military force will be able to act independently of the US-dominated alliance, amid fears that Washington will try to control its operations.

The two papers drafted by Solana address the key issues of how NATO members and other third countries should be consulted by the EU on the formulation of policy and decisions to launch military operations.

Solana's plans would allow NATO staff to attend Union meetings "designed for the development of European defence capabilities". This would give them the right to take part in discussions in the provisional military committees which begin work next week and will shape the EU's new crisis management capability.

But critics fear that this could allow NATO to dominate the committees' work. France, in particular, wants to keep the alliance at arm's length and Union countries which are not members of NATO have voiced concern that involving the organisation in EU policy-making could undermine their neutral status.

Paris argues that the approach advocated by Solana is premature given that the Union is still drafting its new policy. "We need to keep this internal at this stage. Contact between NATO and the EU should only be at secretary-general level while the structures are still preliminary," said one diplomat.

Solana's paper also recommends that NATO's operations planning centre SHAPE should have an office in the Council of Ministers, and says there should be "free and easy access between both military and civilian staff on a daily basis".

Even in operations where NATO was not taking the lead, the report suggests that the alliance's top military commander in Europe (SACEUR) should be put in charge of the campaign. But opponents claim this would undermine the Union's attempts to create an independent military force.

The paper also recommends creating a new 'European Security and Defence Framework (ESDF)' to ensure that non-EU NATO members such as Turkey, Norway and candidates for Union membership are involved in the EU's new defence structures. This would allow for the creation of "parallel but distinct" committees to match the Union's new advisory and decision-making structures.

At next week's meeting, ministers will also discuss the controversial issue of how many troops each EU member state should contribute to the planned 60,000-strong rapid reaction force, and how to meet the need for costly logistics and support equipment.

Union diplomats expect governments to "play to their strengths" by offering existing personnel and equipment rather than basing individual countries' contributions on their economic size.

The row over Solana's proposals erupted as External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten tried to reassure the US that the EU's common security and defence policy was not an attempt to rival the alliance. "We do not seek to duplicate NATO's role. The core of NATO's function is collective defence and nobody, I repeat nobody, is suggesting that this should become part of the EU's mandate," he said.

EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana has come under fire from some Union governments over controversial plans to involve NATO in shaping the EU's new security and defence policy.