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General Powell green light to euro-army The new US Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, said on Tuesday that the United States would have no objections to a proposed 60,000-strong European Union army. In a press conference with the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, he said: "I can tell you that within the Bush Administration the President and I and Secretary Rumsfeld and Dr. Rice and others think we have a very good understanding of what the European Security and Defence Initiative is all about: an effort on the part of our European friends to increase their capability for rapid reaction in Europe and wherever else the need might arise. "And we support that goal. We have had conversations with our friends to satisfy us that it will always be within the context of NATO and that there will be added capabilities coming online for these new responsibilities. "And I have heard nothing in my conversations today with Robin that would suggest we won't be able to achieve a common understanding on these issues, firmly anchored in NATO without duplicating things, which would not be wise, but at the same time giving our European friends the support they need to develop this program, develop this rapid reaction capability in a way that they can act when it isn't completely appropriate or not the right thing for NATO to do, or for one reason or other the US is unable or feels it best not to participate. "So I think all of this is complementary and we can work through the modalities of this in the months ahead without any great difficulty." He went on, "I think if we approach the European Security and Defence Initiative in the way that Robin and I have discussed, with an understanding that it is firmly imbedded in NATO and we're not duplicating planning capabilities and that we're adding to the overall capacity of both NATO and the EU countries, then there's no reason to see this as destabilizing NATO in any way. In fact, I think it is our common belief that it will strengthen NATO." Powell distanced himself from reports, which Powell implied were based on a misunderstanding, that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the euro-army would de-stabilise NATO. Robin Cook, in his own comments, stressed "that the agreement that we've reached at Nice on European security clearly sets out, first of all, a European operation will only occur where NATO as a whole has decided not to act. "Secondly, it will be limited to peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention. The text clearly says that territorial defence is a matter for NATO for those countries that are members of NATO. Thirdly, all the NATO members in Europe who are not in the European Union would have the right to participate in such an operation. "And fourthly, we want any European-led operation to draw on the operational planning capacity of NATO in order to make sure we're fully anchored in NATO. "Now, if we both work on those objectives we can produce an increased capacity which will strengthen NATO and make for fairer burden-sharing." UPI, 6th February 2001; see also www.state.gov/secretary/index.cfm?docid=522 Published by The European Foundation, 61, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5HZ. The Digest is available free by e-mail from euro.foundation@e-f.org US Secretaries for State and Defence: Colin Powell, the new American Secretary of State, and Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State for Defense, this week repeated that the EU Rapid Reaction Force must not undermine NATO. Speaking on Saturday 3 February, Mr Rumsfeld said that he was a "little worried" by proposals by the Rapid Reaction Force. He said: "Actions that could reduce NATO's effectiveness by confusing duplication or perturbing the transatlantic link would not be positive." Speaking after a meeting with Robin Cook on Tuesday 6 February, Colin Powell emphasised that the Rapid Reaction Force must not develop a separate command or planning structure. He said: "If we approach the European security and defence initiative in the way Robin and I have discussed, with an understanding it is firmly embedded in NATO and not duplicating NATO planning capabilities there's no reason to see this as destabilising NATO in any way." Subject: Latest 'no' bulletin. For text version, please visit www.no-euro.com/bulletins.asp Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 18:16:16 GMT From: "no-euro.com" info@no-euro.com For further information visit www.no-euro.com or contact Andrew Haldenby: info@no-euro.com |