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Tue, 24 Feb 04
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NE-@latvia-usa.org
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Feb 23, 2004 23:22 PST
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NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)
Tuesday, 24 February 2004, 01:23 EDT
---------------------------------------------
* CITING OLYMPICS, GREECE REJECTS NEW NATO PEACEKEEPER
REQUEST /AP/Miron Varouhakis
* NATO TO HELP IF SPAIN TAKES OVER IRAQ CONTINGENT: NATO
CHIEF /AFP
* HUNGARIAN TROOPS TO REMAIN IN IRAQ DESPITE ATTACK /BBC
Monitoring/Duna TV
* CHIRAC VISIT TO REINFORCE "PRIVILEGED RELATIONSHIP" WITH
EU-BOUND HUNGARY /AFP/Jean-Michel Stoullig
* TURKEY "ON THE RIGHT PATH" FOR EU MEMBERSHIP, SCHROEDER
SAYS /AFP/Hande Culpan
* ELECTIONS COULD REMOVE SPAIN?S DEFMIN
/DefenseNews.com/Martin Aguera
* CZECHS TO END CONSCRIPTION IN APRIL /AFP
* GERMANY AND FRANCE DRIVING EU, TO DISTRACTION OF OTHER
MEMBERS /WP/John Burgess
* EUROPE WORKS TO COORDINATE TERROR RESPONSE
/DefenseNEws.com/Brooks Tigner
* GERMAN DEFMIN RULES OUT NATO DEPLOYMENT IN IRAQ /BBC
Monitoring/Frankfurter Rundschau
---------------------------------------------
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CITING OLYMPICS, GREECE REJECTS NEW NATO PEACEKEEPER
REQUEST
AP, 20 Feb 04, by Miron Varouhakis
Greece rejected a new NATO request Friday to boost its
troop contribution in Afghanistan because it needs military
personnel at home to provide security at the upcoming
Olympics.
About 10,000 Greek military personnel will be deployed
alongside 40,000 police officers in a massive Olympic
security program costing more than $750 million for the
Aug. 13-29 games.
It was the second time in four months that Greece turned
down such a request by NATO.
Greece currently has a contingent of 122 soldiers, mostly
engineers and medical personnel, deployed in Kabul. It also
has peacekeepers in the Balkans.
NATO secretary general Jaap De Hoop Scheffer said he
understood the decision, and added that Greece's
contribution could be discussed again after the games.
"NATO has the ambition to have five more so-called
provincial reconstruction teams under its wings, and not
only provide security and stability in Kabul but also
outside of Kabul," he said.
"I realize fully the strains upon Greece in organizing the
Olympic games, but I sincerely hope that after the Olympic
games Greece will be able to participate."
Here on a two-day visit, the NATO chief discussed changes
in the alliance after it expands from 19 to 26 members in
May, accepting Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as full members.
NATO has offered assistance in Olympic security and is
currently discussing what help it can provide.
NATO TO HELP IF SPAIN TAKES OVER IRAQ MULTINATIONAL
CONTINGENT: NATO CHIEF
AFP, 19 Feb 04
NATO is prepared to assist Spain should it agree to take
over the command of the multinational military contingent
in Iraq, which is currently headed by Poland, NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said here Thursday.
"Spain could do that and if Spain would ask for NATO
assistance NATO will certainly give it," de Hoop Scheffer
told a press conference following talks with Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
Spain, one of 18 NATO allies serving in Iraq, currently has
1,300 troops in the war-torn country.
Madrid has so far made no commitments to take over the
command of the multinational contingent, but Defence
Minister Federico Trillo said in September his country
would consider taking over the job from September 2004 on.
Asked whether Turkey would play a role in Iraq, Gul said
Ankara could make a "positive contribution" to a NATO-led
operation in Iraq if "the Iraqi people invite us and the
United Nations becomes a part of the process".
"The nature of such a contribution would be discussed
later," the Turkish minister said.
In October, the Turkish government won parliamentary
approval to send troops to Iraq, despite widespread
criticism at home, but was forced to drop its plans after
the United States failed to overcome opposition from the
Iraqi leadership, especially from Kurds in the north of the
country, to the idea.
The NATO chief said that apart from Iraq, he had discussed
with Gul the alliance's operations in Afghanistan and the
Balkans, the upcoming Istanbul summit on June 28-29 and
"new threats" facing the world.
It is de Hoop Scheffer's first trip to Turkey since he
replaced George Robertson as NATO chief in January. Turkey
is the sole Muslim member of NATO which on Wednesday
celebrated the 52nd anniversary of its accession to the
alliance.
The former Dutch foreign minister, who earlier in the day
met Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul earlier, was also
scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister RTecep Tayyip
Erdogan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
HUNGARIAN TROOPS TO REMAIN IN IRAQ DESPITE ATTACK
BBC Monitoring / Duna TV satellite service, 22 Feb 04
The larger opposition party, the Fidesz, has broken rank
with its former government and election coalition partner,
the MDF, by supporting the government's rejection to recall
the Hungarian troops from Iraq where three of them suffered
serious injuries following an attack on their base a few
days ago. The Hungarian army chief of staff said that the
size of Hungarian peace-keeping troops abroad was in
proportion to the country's size but added that the army
might have to beef up its presence in Afghanistan. The
following are excerpts from a report by Hungarian Duna TV
on 22 February:
Presenter passage omitted Despite the terrorist attack
against them the Hungarian military transport battalion
will continue its work in Iraq. As may be recalled, three
Hungarian soldiers suffered more serious injuries in the
attack on Wednesday 18 February ; all have been able to
leave hospital since then, but the attacks continue.
passage omitted
Reporter passage omitted Imre Ivancsik political state
secretary at the Hungarian Defence Ministry said that the
base at Al-Hillah, where the unit serves under Polish
command was safe within the circumstances, so there was no
need to panic and that the government did not intend to
recall the 300 Hungarian soldiers carrying out stabilizing,
humanitarian, transport tasks in Iraq.
Ivancsik It is my deep conviction that it is in the
interest of the Hungarian Republic that as long as we can
carry out the tasks we should stay there because this is
what is in accordance with our undertaking, with the UNSC
resolution and this is what serves best the interests of
the Hungarian Republic in the strictest meaning of the
term.
Reporter The commander of the transport unit, Lt Col Matyas
Sramko, in a video conference with Defence Minister Ferenc
Juhasz, reported that none of the soldiers serving there
intimated any change in their position; that he would wish
to return home. passage omitted
Among the four parliamentary parties, only one, the
Hungarian Democratic Forum demanded the recalling of the
Hungarian soldiers from Iraq. passage omitted The deputy
chairman of the parliamentary defence committee, Istvan
Simicsko, Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance, the senior
opposition party said that the mission should only be
reviewed if a series of attacks were to be launched against
the Hungarian troops. However, the Wednesday terrorist
attack was not a reason for it yet. passage omitted
Presenter passage omitted Has it been suggested that NATO
expects further, shall we say, military role from Hungary?
Has a request of this kind been received?
Army Chief of Staff Lt Gen Zoltan Szenes No specific
request has been received but, with the new NATO
secretary-general taking office, one can see that there are
priorities and the number one priority is to improve the
Afghanistan situation while the number two priority is
Iraq. So, it can be expected that the Alliance will move in
these directions in some way, and some extra requirements
could be made. Our commitments and participation are, by
the way, in proportion to the size of our country, the size
of our army; certainly so in Iraq, while in Afghanistan it
is possible that further efforts need to be made. passage
omitted
CHIRAC VISIT TO REINFORCE "PRIVILEGED RELATIONSHIP" WITH
EU-BOUND HUNGARY
AFP, 22 Feb 04, by Jean-Michel Stoullig
French President Jacques Chirac will arrive in Hungary
Monday for a two-day visit to reinforce what Budapest
considers a "privileged relationship" between the two
nations.
"France is a strategic partner for us. We share many
interests and values," Hungarian Prime Minister Peter
Medgyessy told AFP in an interview last Thursday.
Chirac, in turn, last month praised Hungary as "an
exemplary country of this great transformation" that will
bring 10 nations, eight of them from the former Soviet
bloc, into the European Union on May 1.
Medgyessy, a fluent French speaker, called the French
president's second official visit to Budapest since 1997
proof of a "privileged relationship" between the two
states.
"We are going to have the opportunity to talk about the
future of the EU," Medgyessy said, adding that "our
policies... are very similar."
The French and Hungarian sides have said a top priority of
the visit is to strengthen the bilateral relationship,
especially on the economic and cultural fronts.
Chirac may announce during his stay the establishment of a
French language university -- there are already an English
and a German language university in Budapest -- as well as
an "important" business investment, well-placed sources
told AFP.
France is Hungary's third-largest trading partner.
But Paris and Budapest have differed over the invasion of
Iraq, with Hungary siding with the United States and France
staunchly against the war.
Hungary has sent 300 troops to Iraq.
Medgyessy is seeking to reconcile European and
trans-atlantic interests in Hungary's foreign policy.
He has said he favors an "autonomous European military
force" but also that "NATO remains the security guarantee
for Europe."
"The world must be multi-polar," Medgyessy said.
"This does not mean (a country) must choose between Europe
and the United States," the prime minister said,
underlining that the two sides "shared the same values."
One sore memory for Hungarians concerning France is the
1920 Treaty of Trianon signed at Versailles in the
aftermath of World War I, in which Hungary lost two-thirds
of its territory and one-third of its population.
There are millions of ethnic Hungarians living in
neighboring countries to this day and their treatment has
often caused friction between Budapest and the region's
other governments.
A top priority for Hungary in the continuing debate over
the new EU constitution is to have the document's preamble
refer to the protection of minorities.
Medgyessy said Hungary's accession to the EU would be the
best way to harmonize bilateral relations with its
neighbors, notably Slovakia and Romania, where the bulk of
the 3.5 million Hungarian minority abroad lives.
"I don't think it's necessary to talk about (Trianon) any
more because the big Europe will settle this question,"
Medgyessy said.
"That's why I support the integration of the countries
around us," he said. "I am very happy that Slovakia is
joining the EU alongside us."
"We wish... that Romania also meets as soon as possible the
integration criteria and that negotiations with Croatia be
started."
TURKEY "ON THE RIGHT PATH" FOR EU MEMBERSHIP, SCHROEDER
SAYS
AFP, 23 Feb 04, by Hande Culpan
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday praised
Turkey for its reform drive to meet EU standards, saying it
was on "the right path" to get a green light to open
accession talks at the end of the year with the
pan-European bloc.
"Thanks to its reform process, Turkey is on the right
path," Schroeder told a press conference here after talks
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Once reforms are implemented and have taken hold in Turkish
society, Ankara's chances of getting a favourable report
from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to
begin accession talks will increase, he added.
"There are good chances to see that at the end of the
year," said Schroeder, the first head of German government
to officially with visit Turkey in 11 years.
Turkey signed its first economic partnership with the
European Economic Community, the forerunner of the EU, in
1963 and has been a formal candidate for EU membership
since 1999. But it is the only county which has so far
failed to enter into membership talks with the bloc.
EU leaders will decide in December whether the mainly
Muslim country has made sufficient progress in meeting the
"Copenhagen criteria", a set of political and economic
standards, which include respect for democratic rule and
human rights, to sit down at the negotiating table.
Ankara argues that it has fulfilled the majority of the
political criteria, but Brussels has pointed to some
shortfalls concerning judicial independence, fundamental
freedoms, the political influence of the military and the
rights of its sizeable Kurdish minority.
"We are awaiting with great confidence a positive decision
in December 2004 on our negotiation process," Erdogan said,
adding that his government was determined to press ahead
with the implementation of reforms.
Schroeder, for his part, pledged his government's
unwavering support providing Turkey did its homework.
"Turkey can always count on Germany for support...Our vote
will be for the start of accession negotiations in a
shortest time if Turkey has fulfilled all the criteria,"
the German leader said.
His stance was in sharp contrast to that of Angela Merkel,
the leader of the main Christian Democratic Union
opposition party in Germany, who proposed a "special
partnership" with Turkey, rather than full membership,
during a visit here last week.
Erdogan termed her proposal "out of the question".
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation with a population of
almost 70 million and a NATO member, would be the most
populous country in the EU after Germany if admitted to the
bloc today. UN forecasts indicate that it would overtake
Germany within a few years.
Schroeder also lauded Turkey on its efforts to help resolve
the long-standing division of Cyprus, a stumbling block in
the EU enlargement process, and said Ankara's contribution
would have a positive influence on the EU decision come
December 2004.
Schroeder, who is accompanied by big business leaders, was
also to hold talks with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and
opposition leader Deniz Baykal before flying Monday
afternoon to Turkey's commercial capital Istanbul to
address an economic forum.
Germany is Turkey's largest trading partner in the EU, with
bilateral trade at 14.2 billion euros in 2002 (18 billion
dollars at today's rates).
It is also home to 2.5 million people of Turkish origin --
the largest such community in western Europe -- more than
half a million of whom have acquired German citizenship and
the right to vote.
On Tuesday, Schroeder, accompanied by Erdogan, will fly to
Iskenderun, on the Mediterranean close to the Syrian
border, to inaugurate a coal-fired power plant and
Germany's largest investment in the country.
Schroeder will later fly to Malta, set to become the EU's
smallest state when it joins in May.
ELECTIONS COULD REMOVE SPAIN?S DEFENSE MINISTER
DefenseNews.com, 23 Feb 04, by Martin Aguera
Spain?s parliamentary elections on March 14 may see the end
of Defense Minister Federico Trillo?s tenure, but a broad
defense agenda and public scrutiny await whoever occupies
that office.
The governing Partido Popular (PP) and its candidate for
prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, are fighting to retain
leadership against a strong push by the opposition Social
Democrats, or PSOE, and their candidate, José Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero. The winner will replace conservative
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Pre-election polls put Rajoy ahead of Zapatero, but it is
uncertain whether the PP can maintain the absolute majority
? 175 parliamentary seats ? or will have to form alliances
to govern.
Although Trillo has said he is willing to remain as defense
minister under Rajoy, some government officials say his
term will end after its four-year legislative period.
?It seems like a logical thing at the moment that the PP
will receive the majority of the votes to establish a
government March 14,? said a senior official in the
Ministry for Science and Technology. ?But my personal
feeling is that Trillo will not continue as defense
minister.?
Trillo?s spokesman, Alberto Martinez Arias, said Feb. 17
that the minister first needs to secure his election as
parliamentary representative for the province of Alicante.
?My answer to all this always is, ?Who is winning the
elections??? Martinez Arias said. Until then, he said, ?It
is mere speculation. The whole decision-making process is
very complicated.?
But Martinez Arias confirmed that his boss had signaled his
willingness to continue as defense minister under Rajoy.
Programs in Progress
A high-level official in the Defense Ministry said a broad
agenda awaits the defense minister.
?Trillo has set in motion many important things, and it
requires a person with a strong standing in the government
to satisfactorily fulfill these,? said the official. ?That
one encounters road blocks is normal, but I believe Trillo
has such a strong standing to continue.?
During his four-year tenure, Trillo launched an
unprecedented number of programs and other military
changes.
Spain ended mandatory military service in 2001 and has
shifted to an all-professional force. This resulted in a
loss of roughly 10,000 soldiers, despite efforts to
maintain an end-strength of 85,000 troops.
Spain also embarked on several coalition missions,
contributing troops to the U.N.-mandated International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led
coalition in the war with Iraq.
Among other major procurement programs, Spain?s cabinet
approved the purchase of 27 Airbus A400M airlifters; 87
Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft; 24 Eurocopter Tiger attack
helicopters; four F-100 frigates; more than 200 Leopard 2E
tanks; a strategic power projection ship; and four SS-80
submarines. These purchases will amount to nearly 20
billion euros ($25.5 billion) during the next 15 years.
Last month, the Spanish Science and Technology Ministry
announced it would pay 270 million euros for the
helicopter, ship and submarine programs, money that will be
repaid by the Ministry of Defense, the Science and
Technology Ministry official said.
Spain has an annual defense budget of some 7 billion euros,
and some analysts at the Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos
think tank long have warned that funds for these ambitious
programs will fall short in the coming years.
?I think Trillo has a pretty strong position within Aznar?s
Cabinet and will be called upon [to serve] a next term, if
Rajoy wins the elections,? said Rafael Monsalve, a security
and defense expert in Madrid.
A second Ministry of Defense official countered that view.
?You have to look at this issue from various angles,? the
official said. ?One, Rajoy will likely shift the leadership
around since he will not want to look like an Aznar
associate.?
The other point, the official said, is that Trillo will
only have few supporters.
?He proved to be a difficult character, and many in the
ministry and industry wish to see him leave,? the Defense
Ministry officials said. ?That so many procurements were
made possible was thanks to the Science and Technology
Ministry.?
A senior Spanish shipyard executive offered yet another
view.
?Some sources may say what they want, but from the
industrial point of view, it has been a long time since we
have had so many programs,? the source said. ?From
industry, I doubt that you will hear many people scream
that Trillo should leave.?
Facing Criticism
Trillo?s reputation took a big hit last year when a
Ukrainian-chartered Yak-42 aircraft, carrying Spanish
soldiers home from Afghanistan, crashed May 26 in heavy fog
in Turkey. Sixty-two soldiers died in the crash.
The government subsequently was criticized for chartering
inexpensive airplanes to transport Madrid?s peacekeeping
forces. The government countered that the aircraft had been
leased according to NATO regulations.
And during the course of the Iraq war, the Spanish
government was a staunch supporter of the U.S.-British
campaign, deploying as many as 1,500 soldiers to date
despite the lack of public support, said Martinez Arias.
Trillo also was the target of criticism when, late last
year, seven Spanish military intelligence agency members
were killed in an attack at Al Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Earlier
this month, five soldiers were wounded near their base in
Diwaniyah, Iraq.
The defense minister said recently that his government?s
intelligence agency relied on U.S. and British sources in
opting to support and participate in the war against Iraq.
His statements again resulted in heavy criticism from PSOE
leaders, who asked for a commission to be created to assess
the intelligence failures that led to Spain going to war
against Iraq.
Neither the defense spokesman for the PP, Manuel Atencia,
nor the PSOE?s defense spokesman, Jordi Marsal, could be
reached for comment.
CZECH GOVERNMENT TO END CONSCRIPTION IN APRIL AS PART OF
ARMY REFORM
AFP, 19 Feb 04
The Czech defence ministry said Thursday that it will halt
conscription to the army in April as part of reforms of the
armed forces.
Just 3,600 young men will be called up to the Czech army
this year and will complete their service in December as
the army turns fully professional on January 1, 2005, said
ministry spokesman Ladislav Sticha.
But Sticha added that the government would retain the legal
right to reintroduce conscription if necessary.
"The army has been wasting money needlessly on training
conscripts who left after a year and then the whole process
had to start again.
"Military service has become much more technologically
advanced and we need to spend years on training
professional people instead," Sticha said.
The Czech army has been pared from 61,000 in 2002 to
44,000. By 2008 it will fall again to 35,000, Sticha said.
Dozens of bases and plots were also shut last year with
further closures planned.
The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 along with Poland
and Hungary.
GERMANY AND FRANCE DRIVING EU, TO DISTRACTION OF OTHER
MEMBERS;
TWO SAY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP DOES NOT HARM EUROPE'S INTERESTS
Washington Post, 22 Feb 04, by John Burgess
Every six weeks or so, the leaders of Germany and France
drop everything and get together for a meal.
This month, the place was this tidy village 10 miles south
of Berlin. French President Jacques Chirac arrived by
helicopter, then rode through the streets in a black
Mercedes, waving to the locals. Ahead, up the cobblestone
drive of a mansion that houses a French-German cooperation
institute, his counterpart Gerhard Schroeder was waiting.
Beaming, the two men embraced, bantered for a moment by the
car, then disappeared inside amid a clutch of aides for
lunch and private talk.
From the start of European integration a half-century ago,
French-German cooperation has been the driving engine.
Today the tie is so close, at both the personal and
national levels, that elsewhere in Europe some people see
too much of a good thing. In their view, France and Germany
are sometimes crafting the new Europe on the principle that
what's good for them is good for everyone.
In the past year, the two countries have stood firm against
the United States in the Iraq war, ignoring sentiment in
other European capitals. In efforts to restart their
stalled economies, they have violated the fundamental pact
of the five-year-old euro common currency. Now they are
helping hold up the drafting of the first European Union
constitution by insisting on a voting system weighted in
their favor.
"The two cooks come from the kitchen and say they have
already prepared the dinner . . . You can either eat it or
not eat it, but this is what the dinner is," said Jan
Truszczynski, who represents Poland, an incoming European
Union member, in negotiations. Too often, he said, that's
the unpleasant taste the two leave behind.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, another critic,
recently summed up the constitutional deadlock: "There's
one issue being debated -- who's going to be the boss in
the Europe of the future?" he told Washington Post
reporters and editors last month.
In Berlin and Paris, officials concede that such tensions
exist, but they say that whatever others may say, Europe's
interests remain at the heart of the cooperation. Hans
Martin Bury, Schroeder's coordinator for relations with
Europe, depicts agreement between France and Germany,
countries that have vastly different cultures and a history
of animosity, as a natural starting point for any decision
to be made in the 15-country EU as a whole.
"If we can't get together, there won't be a consensus in
Europe," he said in an interview in his Berlin office. "We
bring different interests and traditions together. Our
interest is not to dominate Europe but to create new
solutions."
The partnership is overseeing a future that includes
admission of 10 new member countries on May 1, strengthened
rule of law, human rights and environmental protection and
a progressive pooling of money and decision-making. The
union sometimes functions as a counterbalance to U.S.
influence in the world, though in foreign policy the two
big partners don't always prevail. During the Iraq war,
Britain, Spain and Italy led a faction siding with
Washington.
The union is creating closer ties between all members, but
nowhere are they closer than between Germany and France.
Their cabinets hold joint meetings twice a year. Ministers
meet to work on "road maps" on issues of mutual interest.
French officials are stationed in ministries in Berlin, and
Germans serve with their counterpart agencies in Paris. In
a few countries, the governments have joint diplomatic
offices and cultural institutes.
The heads of German states and French regional governments
met in October to approve the exchange of more students and
teachers and generally enhance people-to-people links;
about 150,000 people already take part in youth exchange
programs each year. Plans call for a 50 percent rise in the
number of students studying the other country's language.
Historians from both sides are meeting in an effort to
draft a common textbook for use in French and German high
schools.
As the war generation dies out, ordinary people on the both
sides of the long-disputed border are acquiring warmer
feelings toward each other. In a November 2002 survey of
people aged 15-30, 88 percent of Germans described
relations as rather good or very good; 94 percent of French
respondents did.
French and German officials contend that each day that
things go so smoothly is a miracle, in view of the
rivalries and wars between the two peoples stretching back
to the Middle Ages.
Preventing yet another armed conflict between France and
Germany was the vision underlying the EU's founding in 1951
as a six-country common market for coal and steel. In
subsequent years, President Charles de Gaulle acted as
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's patron in readmitting Germany
to respectability in the postwar period.
National needs have often helped smooth over personal
differences between German and French leaders in the past,
as is happening today. Chirac is a highly cultured man who
attended France's elite schools and leads a right-of-center
government. Schroeder has blue-collar roots and governs
from the left. But by all outward signs, there is a
personal rapport, and officials on both sides say it is
real.
Relations between the two leaders were not always smooth.
At an EU summit in Nice in December 2000, France and
Germany clashed over a new framework for governance of an
expanded EU. But a month later the two met for dinner at a
restaurant in the French village of Blaesheim, on territory
that had changed hands four times in 130 years. They
decided to meet every six weeks or so, just to keep up. The
lunch in Genshagen on Feb. 9 was the 17th such
get-together.
The first big sign of parallel thinking came in 2002, when
France and Germany reached a deal on restructuring EU farm
programs, the largest single drain on the EU's $120 billion
annual budget.
As the Iraq war approached, the two leaders again stood
together, in opposition. Their reasons were different.
Chirac sought to assert France's independence in the world,
political analysts say, while Schroeder found he could save
a failing reelection campaign by playing to antiwar
sentiments among German voters. But the positions were the
same: no support at the United Nations, no troops.
In the meantime, both countries' economies were stagnating
as part of the global slowdown that followed the terror
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Both governments tried to
stimulate their economies through deficit spending, at
levels supposedly outlawed by a pact that laid down rules
for countries using the euro.
In theory, they became liable for fines equivalent to
billions of dollars. In November, finance ministers from
the euro countries voted 8 to 4 to forgive the
transgression. Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm, a
dissenter, complained that other ministers "had been
intimidated by these two big countries."
France and Germany have also stood firm in the unsuccessful
negotiations on the EU's first constitution. They and other
countries say that to pass, a measure must have the backing
of a majority of countries that represent at least 60
percent of the expanded EU's population of nearly 500
million people. That would make it hard for smaller
countries to gang up against the big ones.
People in other countries sometimes see hints of coercion
in statements from Germany, the biggest net contributor to
the EU budget, that without agreement on the constitution
it will be hard to settle on budgets.
The new style of business has also drawn criticism at home.
In Germany, a debate broke out last year on whether the
country was squandering trust and friendships built at
great effort since 1945. "There is less willingness by
people to think that France and Germany act in the
interests of Europe," said Christoph Bertram, chairman of
the German Institute for International and Security
Affairs. "The Germans have lost something very important."
In France, said Jean-Luc Parodi, an analyst at the IFOP
polling institute, the political elite is committed to the
German ties. But among ordinary citizens, feelings can
differ. Some "see a little risk in giving too much
importance to this alliance and not enough to the total
European alliance."
Officials in the two countries promise to try harder to
consult, but some say that at times there's just no
pleasing the critics. At the constitutional convention,
said a senior French official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, delegates from other countries frequently asked:
" 'What will France and Germany do?' They were waiting for
the initiative from France and Germany . . . In other
cases, they said, 'be careful, we don't want you to impose
your views.' "
Bury said that Germany and France work hard to include
other nations in consultations. British Prime Minister Tony
Blair periodically attends three-way summits with Chirac
and Schroeder, most recently Wednesday in Berlin. In
addition, Germany and France are developing European
military policy with Belgium and Luxembourg, and
strengthening ties with Poland.
But in their public words and body language, Chirac and
Schroeder seem to try to show there is no relationship like
theirs. At news conferences, they talk about holding
identical views. At times, each publicly grants the other a
sort of political power of attorney -- the right to speak
for both.
In Genshagen, dressed in similar gray suits, they stepped
into a ballroom to deliver that message again to reporters.
Schroeder said: "The close, friendly French-German
cooperation that has brought very, very pleasant personal
experiences is truly fit to make progress for both
countries, to make progress for Europe and to let the
weight that we have together be clearly known in
international discussions."
Chirac chimed in: "On the European topics that we have
discussed our positions are absolutely identical. We have
the same views." He went on to say that later in the day
Schroeder would present those views on behalf of both men
to Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose country holds
the rotating presidency of the EU.
But one French reporter managed to zero in on discord.
France wants to lower the EU-regulated value-added tax that
restaurants collect; Germany is opposed. Chirac replied
that France understands Germany's position, and Germany
understands France's. Smiling, he added that on this issue
France will not budge.
EUROPE WORKS TO COORDINATE TERROR RESPONSE
DefenseNEws.com, 23 Feb 04, by Brooks Tigner
Europe is unprepared to offer a coordinated response to a
terrorist attack ? and the coming enlargements of the
European Union and NATO will only aggravate the situation,
say national and EU security officials and experts.
Despite recent EU policy initiatives and a rising awareness
of the danger, the continent?s diverse civil and military
emergency-response agencies acutely lack standardized
procedures for handling biological and chemical threats,
attacks on Europe?s ports, and airliners-turned-weapons,
they said.
The newest members aren?t even equipped to act on their
own.
?At least four of the seven new states to enter NATO do not
even have the air assets to stop a civil renegade aircraft
from entering their airspace,? said Karel Kovanda, Czech
ambassador to NATO, who addressed a Feb. 16 closed
gathering here of security-defense experts and officials
organized by the New Defense Agenda policy group. ?What
does this mean? Could a military leader in country A issue
an order to authorities in country B to shoot down the
airplane, which may have already reached country C?s
frontier? Who has responsibility? This is a problem all
across Europe.?
The fear that renegade or hijacked civilian aircraft might
be used in a World Trade Center-type attack has spawned
policy turmoil in Europe, where civil-military response
mechanisms diverge from one country to the next.
In Denmark, the government has transferred responsibility
for such an attack from its Interior Ministry to its
Ministry of Defense. But in the Czech Republic, said
Kovanda, ?we?ve just done the opposite: switching it from
the military to the Ministry of Interior. I don?t see the
ingredients across Europe for a rapid response.?
And Germany, where the matter is the subject of hot
parliamentary debate, remains undecided.
?It is unclear for our legislators whether the Defense
Ministry should have the right to shoot down an aircraft
and the danger this entails for our cities,? said Susanne
Welter, deputy head of the unit for international
cooperation against terrorism at Germany?s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. ?Can we present such attacks with 100
percent security? No. There will have to be a balance
between security and personal freedom.?
Working On It
But pan-European, EU and national civil emergency
authorities are working on the problem. In general, they
are seeking ways to improve cross-border communication and
speed up and improve their abilities to respond
collectively to an attack.
In the past year alone, the 15 EU countries have passed a
plethora of applicable laws. They have created a European
arrest warrant, tightened international cooperation between
law enforcement agencies, improved control of their common
external frontier and, most recently, tightened security
norms for maritime traffic and Europe?s ports.
Eurocontrol ? the pan-European air safety and navigation
agency here ? is working to address the threat presented by
the 3,000 flights that enter or cross Europe?s airspace
each day.
?A Sept. 11-type attack in Europe would probably involve
five to nine different Eurocontrol member states. Thus,
extremely tight coordination among air traffic control
authorities will be necessary,? said Victor Aguado,
Eurocontrol?s director-general.
Aguado said Eurocontrol is addressing the threat by:
* Pushing military and civilian air traffic controllers to
share more data and standardize response procedures for
hijackings.
* Better encrypting information transmitted between cockpit
and controllers.
* Developing new methods to filter out data to quickly
identify suspicious flights and pre-flight aircraft.
But are these measures enough? No, said Gustav Lindström, a
research fellow at the European Union?s Institute for
Security Studies in Paris.
?I am more pessimistic than a lot of EU policy-makers about
how well prepared we are for attacks on our homeland
security. The Sept. 11 [attacks against U.S. targets] have
opened the door to many forms of terrorism beyond just
renegade aircraft: shipping, tourism, railways, subways.
And I don?t see the readiness for it.?
Lindstrom sees European bureaucracy as a key obstacle.
?The EU has 15 national plans ? soon to expand to 25 after
enlargement,? he said. ?There are too many plans and too
few exercises to test their effectiveness. The few
exercises that have taken place reveal a critical lack of
interoperability between all these structures and
procedures. The immediate challenge we face is to reduce
the number of all these plans. The problem, of course, is
that effective measures take years to implement.?
GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER RULES OUT NATO DEPLOYMENT IN IRAQ
BBC Monitoring / Frankfurter Rundschau, 16 Feb 04
German Defence Minister Peter Struck has emphatically ruled
out a NATO deployment in Iraq under the current conditions.
In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter
Rundschau he said there would have to be a legitimized
Iraqi government, of which there is no sign as yet, and a
"dramatic" improvement in the security situation. Struck
denied any new tension with the United States and also
denied he was planning a move away from the defence
ministry to take over the finance portfolio. The following
is text of Thomas Kroeter and Axel Vornbaeumen interview by
German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau web site on 16
February entitled "A NATO deployment in Iraq? Not by a long
shot!", subheadings inserted editorially:
Defence Minister Peter Struck on a "very, very hypothetical
case", the German relationship with the United States, and
his political future.
Frankfurter Rundschau Mr Struck, no German soldiers to
Iraq. How long will this phrase be true?
Peter Struck It is true because a larger military presence
cannot pacify Iraq. To create trust, the country needs a
legitimized Iraqi government that can then request
international assistance supported by the UN.
Frankfurter Rundschau So no expiration date, but an
expiration condition: If NATO is nicely asked by a
legitimized government, it will be nice enough to come.
Struck First of all, I do not understand irony as well as
you do. Second, we are talking at cross purposes, since a
polite request to NATO does not mean that Germany must
participate. You know the attitude of the German
government.
Frankfurter Rundschau The current situation in Iraq: Is it
not a disaster from the military standpoint?
Struck The war is won. A disaster is the inadequate
acceptance of the US efforts regarding the stabilization
and reconstruction of political institutions; in other
words, "nation building". The majority of American soldiers
are combat troops. They have little experience with postwar
tasks.
Frankfurter Rundschau So the criteria for a NATO deployment
are not fulfilled.
Struck They will probably not be for long time yet.
Frankfurter Rundschau So to a certain extent the United
States would have to make advance concessions to create the
conditions for NATO to be able to assume a role in Iraq?
Struck The political development comes first of all. For
the moment, there is no-one visible who could assume a role
like the one that President Hamed Karzai has in
Afghanistan. An Iraqi transitional government must have the
trust of the majority of the population. At the present
time, I see no positive signals of that. There are the
Shi'is, the Sunnis, the Kurds and other ethnic groups,
among which it is not yet evident whether they can agree on
a common constitution, let alone a common candidate for a
transitional president.
Frankfurter Rundschau So a basic precondition is an
improvement in the security situation.
Struck We should not forget in our conversation that we are
talking here about a very, very hypothetical case. But for
this case, the security situation must indeed dramatically
improve. The Americans are losing soldiers to attacks
almost every day. There are also victims of suicide attacks
in the civilian population.
Frankfurter Rundschau So how great would the danger be of
NATO soldiers becoming the target of attacks? The operative
term here being 'asymmetric threat'.
Struck That cannot be ruled out. Even Poland, which only
supported the Iraq war politically, has lost soldiers in
its occupation zone. It is certain that no soldier of a
NATO state would be excepted because his government was
against the war.
Frankfurter Rundschau In your conversations with the
Americans, do you sense a growing awareness of the problem?
Are they prepared to hand over responsibility to the Iraqis
sooner?
Struck Clearly, yes.
Frankfurter Rundschau How do German officers in NATO
general staffs feel about a commitment of the alliance in
Iraq?
Struck For now, that is not a subject of debate at all. The
discussion is absolutely superfluous. We are talking here
about the case where there is a legitimized Iraqi
government. This government would have to ask the UN for
help, which in turn would ask NATO. Then, it is not at all
certain that there is a NATO headquarters for the mission.
And thereby German soldiers in the corresponding general
staffs. Nor is there any type of planning for this in the
alliance.
Frankfurter Rundschau But NATO is helping Poland.
Struck Yes, it is doing that in the logistics area with our
agreement. But this does not involve a headquarters managed
by NATO. It cannot yet be foreseen what NATO might be able
to do after an appropriate political decision. At any rate,
we must assume that NATO will not massively replace units
that, for example, are currently being provided by the
Poles. I do not observe any great willingness to do so. It
is completely illusory to imagine that, say, 20,000
Americans would be replaced by NATO soldiers.
France
Frankfurter Rundschau There are indications that the French
government, not least of all because of old relations in
the region, is increasingly leaning in the direction of
Iraq.
Struck French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie made it
expressly clear to me in a conversation that there has been
no political decision made to commit troops to Iraq.
Frankfurter Rundschau When can a NATO decision on a mission
in Iraq be expected?
Struck Not for a long time yet.
Frankfurter Rundschau At the end of this year?
Struck I do not see that.
Frankfurter Rundschau Next year?
Struck Perhaps.
Frankfurter Rundschau Not even a political signal?
Struck Well, I assume that the NATO summit in June in
Istanbul will issue a political declaration of principle:
if the political conditions are met, then the heads of
state and government will probably be prepared to seriously
review the inquiry of the UN based on a request of a
legitimate Iraqi transitional government.
Frankfurter Rundschau That would be the decision that
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has said the German
government will not block.
Struck Yes it is.
Foreign deployment law
Frankfurter Rundschau Assuming the theoretical case of such
a mission in the framework of integrated units of NATO:
would that be the first of the conditions of the planned
foreign deployment law?
Struck The question does not arise. That is a speculative
scenario to which a law not adopted is applied. Regarding
the foreign deployment law: I have noted with regret that
there has been no draft agreed among the parliamentary
groups. Consequently, the parliamentary groups of the
coalition will act jointly. The goal is an adoption before
the summer break.
Frankfurter Rundschau Are you satisfied with the red-green
draft?
Struck I would have preferred to see even simpler rules.
For example, a special committee.
Frankfurter Rundschau Like the FDP Free Democratic Party
has demanded.
Struck But I have been parliamentary group chairman long
enough to accept that the coalition parliamentary groups
have a different opinion.
Frankfurter Rundschau At the Munich security conference you
called for a new "Harmel Report", meaning a new basic
document for the alliance's political and military
strategy. But that also implies criticism of the current
situation.
Struck The Harmel Report dates from the 1960s. Since then,
there have been various decisions on basic principles. Plus
there are reforms of armed forces in all member states. So
a synthesis would be appropriate, including that of the new
security system with the asymmetric threat posed by
international terrorism.
Europe-US relations
Frankfurter Rundschau But are there not again new problems
between Europe and the United States?
Struck No. The dispute over the Iraq war was a healthy
shock for all of us. I do not have the impression that,
say, the United States is seeking confrontation with "old
Europe". Just the opposite. The Americans have learnt that
it is possible to win a war quickly but building a stable
peaceful order is a much more difficult task, one that
requires cooperation in the humanitarian, civil and also
military area.
Struck remains defence minister
Frankfurter Rundschau Last of all, a domestic policy
question: when will you become finance minister?
Struck I am and shall remain defence minister, one who does
not leave the bridge in the difficult wake of a necessary
reform.
Frankfurter Rundschau Is there not a social democratic
model of someone who rose from defence minister?
Struck I do not know whom you are speaking about.
Frankfurter Rundschau Helmut Schmidt became Chancellor. How
does 'Helmut Struck' sound?
Struck Nonsense, the name remains Peter Struck.
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