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Tue, 9 Mar 04
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NE-@latvia-usa.org
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Mar 08, 2004 22:38 PST
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NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)
Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 01:31 EDT
---------------------------------------------
* NATO READY TO GO TO IRAQ IF GOVERNMENT REQUESTS / AFP
* POLAND HOPES FOR NATO DECISION ON IRAQ BY JUNE / AFP
* UN'S ANNAN EYES NATO HELP IN AFRICAN PEACEKEEPING / AFP
* U.S. PLANS FOR MIDEAST REVIVE TRANSATLANTIC STRAINS / AFP
/ Michael Thurston
* CANADA EXPECTED TO SEND MORE TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN /
XINHUA
* U.S. ARRANGING NATO ENLARGEMENT CEREMONY / BNS
* NATO SATISFIED WITH PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFO IN
LATVIA / BNS
* FINLAND PUTS 70-MILLION EURO PRICE TAG ON NATO MEMBERSHIP
/ AFP
* IRAQ COUNCIL SIGNS CONSTITUTION / Reuters / Joseph Logan,
Michael Georgy
* LITHUANIA AWAITS COURT RULING TO IMPEACH PRESIDENT / AFP
/ Arturas Racas
* GREEKS END SOCIALIST RULE, ELECT YOUNGEST PM / Reuters
* CROATIA TO HAND GENERALS TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL / FT / Eric
Jansson
* NOMINATION OF BOSNIA'S FIRST EVER DEFMIN DELAYED AGAIN /
AFP
* U.S. AND EU IN DISPUTE ON CONTROL OF BOSNIA FORCE / FT /
Judy Dempsey
* POWELL TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE FOR MEETINGS ON AFGHANISTAN,
NATO / AFP
* SENATOR CONDEMNS MOVE TO CUT US TROOPS IN EUROPE / FT /
Peter Spiegel
* GERMANY'S FISCHER PLEADS FOR SELF-CONFIDENT EUROPE / AFP
---------------------------------------------
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NATO READY TO GO TO IRAQ IF SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENT MAKES
REQUEST
AFP, 4 Mar 04
NATO is ready to send troops to Iraq if the new sovereign
government that is to take over on July 1 makes that
request, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said
on Thursday.
De Hoop Scheffer also said that the United Nations should
provide a mandate for a stabilisation force for Iraq under
a sovereign government.
"If both elements are met, the (NATO) alliance will
approach this question with a very positive attitude," said
the NATO chief after holding talks in Warsaw with Prime
Minister Leszek Miller.
"After July 1, it is up to the sovereign Iraqi government
to decide," said De Hoop Scheffer, in reference to a
decision to ask NATO to send troops.
The United States has set a date of June 30 to formally end
the occupation of Iraq and hand over power to a sovereign
government, although it will retain a military presence in
the country.
Poland heads a multinational force of 9,000 troops
patrolling southern and central Iraq. It hopes to hand over
command of the force to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation next year.
"Poland hopes that Polish soldiers will be able to return
to their country as soon as possible but the Iraqi
government must first be formed and decide when the
presence of foreign troops on its territory is no longer
necessary," said Miller.
De Hoop Scheffer said he hoped Poland would "be able to
stay in Iraq".
Poland commands a force comprising Spanish, Ukrainian,
Bulgarian and Latin American troops.
"The number one priority on our agenda is Afghanistan. I
have said it before and I will say it again -- if we want
to win the war on terrorism, we must win the peace in
Afghanistan," said De Hoop Sheffer.
He said that in order for this to happen there needed to be
greater cooperation between NATO countries.
"I want all allies to pull their weight to carry on with
the necessary defence reforms. We are facing a real
shortfall in useable, deployable troops to meet our current
political commitments, let alone any future ones," he said.
Aside from the enlargement of NATO, which in April is due
to welcome seven new members -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia,
Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia -- De Hoop
Scheffer also underlined the need for partnerships,
including one with the European Union.
"Let me be absolutely clear -- the EU must become a
strategic actor. You cannot have European integration at
all levels, yet keep security totally excluded from it, he
said.
"A Europe which aspires to have a common foreign and
security policy must inevitably develop a military
instrument as well or its foreign policy will lack
credibility".
He also said NATO and the EU would need to have a close
relationship if they were to tackle quickly the spiralling
problems in what he called the "Greater Middle East".
The United States has put forward a "Greater Middle East
Initiative" which it hopes will encourage democratic reform
and economic change in the Arab world and other Muslim
countries. But the plan has met with suspicion from Arab
states.
"More and more we realise that if the problems in this
region are left to fester, we may pay a terrible price," De
Hoop Scheffer said.
"I am confident that at our summit in Istanbul in late
June, we will be able to give a clear signal with respect
to NATOs contribution to this effort."
The NATO summit is scheduled to take place in the Turkish
city of Istanbul on June 28-29.
POLAND HOPES FOR NATO DECISION BY JUNE ON NATO FORCES IN
IRAQ
AFP, 3 Mar 04
Poland hopes NATO will decide at a June summit in Istanbul
to take over from Polish forces in command of the
multinational division in Iraq, Defence Minister Jerzy
Szmajdzinski said Wednesday.
The multinational military force in south-central Iraq --
comprising troops other than those of the United States and
Britain -- is currently headed by Poland until July 1.
Szmajdzinski told journalists he would raise the question
of the Atlantic Alliance relieving Poland when he meets
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for talks here
Thursday.
"Discussions will last until the Istanbul summit when the
leaders will have to take a decision which will be of major
importance," he said:
"Early statements are encouraging because nobody has so far
imposed a veto although some member-countries do not wish
to participate."
Szmajdzinski said Poland wanted to start reducing its
military contingent in Iraq from 2005 on, but was meanwhile
preparing to send in fresh personnel to relieve the present
garrison this year.
Nearly 2,500 Polish personnel are serving with the
9,000-strong multinational division, with other units
supplied by Spain, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech
Republic and Latin American countries.
The Polish minister declined to confirm reports from Iraq
that militants arrested by Polish troops for alleged
involvement in terrorist acttacks were linked to the
Al-Qaeda network.
Spain, with 1,300 men deployed in Iraq, is also pondering
whether to take over command from Poland of the
multinational force stationed there, Spanish Foreign
Minister Ana Palacio said last week.
The Spanish government, facing a general election on March
14, "is working with other NATO members because we consider
it important for the Alliance to have a major presence in
Iraq if so wished, and as long as it is organised in
accordance with both the Iraqi authorities and the UN," she
said.
Madrid has so far made no commitments to take over the
command of the multinational force, although Defence
Minister Federico Trillo said last September his country
would consider taking over the job from next September.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last week a NATO presence in
Iraq would depend on two crucial elements, namely transfer
of sovereignty to an Iraqi govenrment on July 1 and the
UN's increasing role.
"Important developments are going to take place in Iraq in
the sense that the date of the first of July is the set
date for the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq," he said:
"After that day, we will have a sovereign Iraqi government.
"If it is the case that after the transfer of sovereignty,
that (Iraqi) government comes to NATO to participate in the
stabilisation force, I think the allies will have a very
serious discussion, starting with a positive attitude.
"Do not forget that 18 out of the 26 future NATO nations
have at the moment forces on the ground in Iraq," the NATO
official noted.
UN'S ANNAN EYES NATO HELP IN AFRICAN PEACEKEEPING
AFP, 8 Mar 04
NATO could play a welcome role in helping with the growing
number of international peacekeeping missions in Africa, UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan said here on Monday.
He noted that the UN Security Council last month authorised
a new peacekeeping mission in the western African nation of
Ivory Coast, and that other operations were likely on the
way. "Should such a surge take place, strong support from
NATO would be tremendously helpful," Annan said. "NATO's
increasing willingness to 'go global' presents important
opportunities, in particular for Africa."
The UN chief said the "wide-ranging" collaboration between
the world body and the alliance, in the Balkans and
Afghanistan, was "absolutely essential" and should be
continued and enlarged.
"That is especially true of Afghanistan, where elections
are approaching, and where sustained commitment and
expanded engagement by NATO would make a real difference,"
he said.
He also said that NATO could work together with the United
Nations in Iraq, where the world body has said increased
security is essential to organise planned elections in the
coming months.
US PLANS FOR MIDEAST REFORM REVIVE TRANSATLANTIC STRAINS
AFP, 7 Mar 04, by Michael Thurston
US plans to kickstart democratic reform in the Middle East
are rekindling simmering transatlantic tension, with
Europeans -- including notably France -- warning against
"interference" in the Arab world.
Specifically the EU is concerned that Washington's "Greater
Middle East" plans could overshadow efforts to resolve the
Arab-Israeli conflict, in what one diplomat said could be
part of an attempt to "repackage the Middle East" in a
tough election year for the US administration.
In public European and US leaders are keen to downplay
their differences, saying they agree on the need to foster
democracy in the Middle East, where nearly all Arab
countries are ruled by authoritarian regimes.
Both sides agree that reforms cannot be "imposed" on Arab
states; everyone agrees it is a long-term or "generational"
project, and all stress the "centrality" of the
Israel-Palestinian conflict in the region.
But diplomats concede there are both "differences of
approach" between Europe and Washington and at least one
key divergence of view over strategy.
"Our big difference with the Americans is that we say there
must be equal effort for wider reform in the region and for
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while the Americans say
we must not let the peace process hold back reform," said
one EU source.
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc
Grossman, visiting Brussels last week, admitted that
Washington will not let the peace process hold up wider
reforms.
"You can't wait until there is a complete peace in order to
promote reform," he said.
The United States says the initiative aims to encourage
democratic reform and economic opening in the Arab world
and other Muslim countries in a bid to abate frustration
and poverty on which international terrorism thrives.
But the initiative has provoked harsh barely-disguised
disdain in several Arab countries which fear Washington
wants to impose its own cultural models on the region.
And Grossman's trip came as EU heavyweights France and
Germany -- infamously dubbed "Old Europe" in Washington
during the Iraq crisis -- are circulating their own vision
of Middle East reform.
The Franco-German proposals notably called for the EU to
"define a distinct approach which complements that of the
United States." They stress that without a solution to the
Arab-Israeli conflict "there will be little chance of
dealing with other problems in the Middle East."
French President Jacques Chirac, President Bush's arch foe
during the Iraq crisis, made his feelings clear during a
visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Paris Friday.
"We support modernisation which comes as a result of
consultations, cooperation between states," he said. "On
the other hand, we think that nothing can be imposed.
"In other words, modernisation yes, interference no."
One senior diplomat even suggested the US plans could be
"an attempt to repackage the Middle East problem in an
election year ... there are some concerns that that might
be an element of the thinking behind it." US officials
dismiss this, saying foreign policy traditionally has no
impact on US voters.
Transatlantic strains over the Middle East are of course
nothing new. The Iraq war was by far the most explosive,
but dealing with Iran's hardliners has also seen starkly
different approaches, with mixed success.
But US President George W. Bush has made no secret that he
wants Iraq to be the model for democratization in the
region.
Washington, which also sees a possible role for NATO in its
Mideast reform initiative, hopes to formally launch the
plans at a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized
nations in June.
Between now and then the US will be keen not to have
another full-blown public falling-out with its European
allies. One diplomat from a US-friendly EU state said that
in theory this should be possible.
"I'm not sure it's exactly a disagreement. There are
differences of approach and of emphasis. The Americans have
got their way of doing things. We all need to talk to each
other and see what happens," he said.
CANADA EXPECTED TO SEND MORE TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN
XINHUA, 8 Mar 04
Canada is planning to send a mechanized reconnaissance
squadron to Afghanistan when the current battalion group
finishes its tasks in August, local press reported Monday.
The plan is to deploy a Coyote squadron from Royal
Canadians and a company of infantry soldiers from the 1st
Battalion. Both are based in the western city of Edmonton.
One would be attached to the existing International
Security Assistance Force in Kabul while the other would be
deployed to a so-called provincial reconstruction team
elsewhere in the country, highly placed military sources
said.
The plan could change, but the commitment will match or
exceed the 500 troops Prime Minister Paul Martin has said
would be the maximum Canada could spare.
Canadian Defense Minister David Pratt would not confirm the
deployment plans in an interview, but said he will be
meeting with NATO allies in the coming days and expects to
make an announcement within two weeks.
At present, there are about 2,000 Canadian troops in
Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force.
U.S. ARRANGING NATO ENLARGEMENT CEREMONY
BNS, 4 Mar 04
Seven former Soviet bloc states should officially join NATO
during a ceremony to be held in the United States, probably
in Chicago, in the end of this month, officials said on
Wednesday.
The ceremony will take place a few days before the flags of
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and
Slovenia are hoisted outside the Brussels headquarters of
the U.S.-led defense alliance on April 2.
A NATO official said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov,
whose country views NATO eastward enlargement with
suspicion, would be invited for talks with allied foreign
ministers immediately after the flags are raised.
Moscow has softened its opposition to the alliance's
expansion behind the former Iron Curtain, and relations
between the Cold War foes have improved since the
establishment of the NATO-Russia Council for security
dialogue two years ago.
NATO's first enlargement into Eastern Europe was completed
in 1999, with the accession of the Czech Republic, Hungary
and Poland in 1999, which increased the number of allies to
19.
The last step to membership for the seven invitees will be
made this month when they inform the United States of their
readiness to join.
A NATO diplomat said Chicago was one of three U.S. venues
where the ceremony may take place, possibly, on Mar. 30.
"There are larger communities of people from invitee
countries in this part of the U.S. than in Washington so it
would be more meaningful to have it there," the diplomat
said.
NATO SATISFIED WITH PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFO IN LATVIA
BNS, 5 Mar 04
The NATO Office of Security inspectors during their visit
to Latvian concluded that the Baltic state is able to
protect properly the alliance's classified information,
said the Latvian top national security agency, the
Constitution Protection Office (CPO).
CPO spokesman Dainis Mikelsons said the NATO inspectors had
visited Latvia this week to examine the ability of state
institutions to protect the alliance's secret information
and communications systems. They met with top officials
from the CPO, the National Armed Forces, defense and
foreign ministries and inspected national security
agencies.
This was the last visit by foreign security commissions to
Latvia before the country officially becomes a member of
NATO and the EU but the Latvian state institutions will
continue preparations for receiving, storing and protecting
classified NATO information.
The CPO in cooperation with the Latvian Air Force have
brought to the country NATO secret communications systems
which will facilitate NATO-Latvian cooperation in security
matters.
The EU inspectors, who visited Latvia late February, also
gave positive references about Latvia's ability to protect
secret information.
Latvia will become a full member of the EU on May 1 this
year. Latvia's official admission to NATO will take place
late March or early April.
FINLAND PUTS 70-MILLION EURO PRICE TAG ON NATO MEMBERSHIP
AFP, 2 Mar 04
The Finnish defense ministry has calculated that it would
cost non-aligned Finland some 70 million euros (87 million
dollars) annually to join the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), officials said on Tuesday.
The lion's share of the sum, about 30 million euros, would
go to NATO's common military budget, while five million
would be Finland's contribution to its civilian
administration, said Helena Partanen, a defense ministry
councilor.
In addition it would cost 10 million euros annually to keep
between 80 to 100 Finnish officials posted at various NATO
headquarters, she added.
If Finland were to join the alliance it would also be
necessary to upgrade part of its military infrastructure to
NATO standards, which is estimated to cost some 25 million
euros per year over a 12-year period, Partanen said.
The extra costs could nevertheless easily be accommodated
within the current Finnish defense budget, which totals
about two billion euros in 2004, she said.
The estimate forms part of a larger political report on
Finland's future security arrangements due late this year,
which is expected to recommend whether the Nordic country
should join NATO or remain neutral.
According to recent opinion polls, two-thirds of Finns are
against scuttling their neutrality to join a defense
alliance like NATO.
However, over the past decade the Finnish military has
carried out a program to make its forces interoperable with
those of NATO member countries, and technically Finland
could join the alliance overnight, experts have noted.
The main parts of the interoperability program were
Finland's purchase of a fleet of US-made fighter planes and
some 100 Leopard tanks from Germany.
IRAQ COUNCIL SIGNS CONSTITUTION, TOP CLERIC UNHAPPY
Reuters, 8 Mar 04, by Joseph Logan and Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Governing Council signed an
interim constitution on Monday in a key step toward the
June 30 launch of a sovereign government but the country's
top Shi'ite cleric refused to endorse it.
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who wields immense influence over
the country's 60 percent Shi'ite majority, said in a
statement the interim charter would make it harder for Iraq
to agree on a permanent constitution, a crucial foundation
for democracy.
Sistani's objections, which followed weeks of wrangling
about the wording of the document, had forced an earlier
planned signing ceremony to be abandoned last Friday when
five Shi'ite council members backed out.
After talks over the weekend with Sistani and other clerics
in the holy city of Najaf they went ahead with the signing
on Monday.
The Shi'ite politicians said Sistani gave them the go-ahead
to sign despite his objections because he did not want to
seem to be blocking progress. But the cleric's misgivings
will make it harder for Iraq's occupiers to win backing for
their plans.
Blasts rang out across Baghdad just before the signing, as
a crowd of children dressed in Iraqi national costumes sang
traditional songs to assembled dignitaries at the ceremony.
Police said guerrillas fired mortars at a police station,
wounding three civilians and two policemen.
Adnan Pachachi, a senior member of the Governing Council,
said the ceremony the event was "a great and historic day
for Iraq." Iraq's U.S. governor, Paul Bremer, also hailed
the agreement and noted the difficulties it had faced.
"We are witnessing the birth of democracy and birth is
painful, as we've learned over the last few evenings," he
told the council. "Not everyone got everything they wanted
in this law -- that's the way of democracy."
FOUNDATION FOR ELECTIONS, CONSTITUTION
President Bush, who invaded Iraq last March to ousted
President Saddam Hussein, said in a statement that "while
difficult work remains to establish democracy in Iraq,
today's signing is a critical step in that direction."
"This document is an important step toward the
establishment of a sovereign government on June 30," Bush
said. "It lays the foundation for democratic elections and
for a new constitution."
Bush, speaking separately, in Texas, said the signing would
establish American-style freedoms of religion, speech and
assembly for Iraq while moving the Muslim nation toward
sovereignty and democratic elections.
The Republican president, who justified the invasion by
citing the threat from weapons of mass destruction that
were never found, has described the goal of establishing
democracy in Iraq as part of a larger initiative to bring
democratic reforms to the Middle East region.
The signing ceremony had been delayed twice -- first by
bomb attacks on Shi'ites that killed at least 181 people
last Tuesday and then by Sistani's intervention Friday.
Sistani, a 73-year-old Iranian-born religious scholar, has
increasingly exerted his influence on politics in recent
months to ensure Shi'ite aspirations are heard. Earlier
this year the U.S.-led authority accelerated the timetable
for elections after Sistani demanded polls as soon as
possible.
Governing Council members said Sistani's main objection to
the interim charter was a clause that could allow minority
Kurds to veto a permanent constitution due to be drawn up
next year if it does not enshrine their demands for
autonomy.
Sistani also says an unelected body should not be allowed
to pass legislation. Under the U.S. plan, an unelected
Iraqi government will take over sovereignty on June 30. An
assembly will be elected by end-January next year and full
democratic elections will be held by the end of 2005.
COALITION OFFICIAL URGES U.N. ROLE
A senior official of the U.S.-led coalition said he hoped
the United Nations, which sent an electoral team to Baghdad
last month, would return to Baghdad to join in discussions
on the process of creating a democracy in Iraq.
"We believe the United Nations can play a useful role in
this next phase in helping us, the governing council and a
broad group of the Iraqi population decide what is the best
way" to create an interim government, said the coalition
official, who asked not to be identified.
Shi'ites in the Governing Council said they hoped a
permanent constitution would undo some of the concessions
they had made in order to get the interim document agreed.
"We are committed to what we signed but if we have the
chance to alter it in the future, we will do our best,"
said Hamid al-Bayati, a senior official of the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a top Shi'ite
party.
"Any law prepared for the transitional period will not have
legitimacy until it is approved by the elected national
assembly," said a statement issued by Sistani's office.
Kurds say they will never agree to give up their autonomy
in three northern provinces they wrested from Saddam
Hussein's rule in 1991 after the Gulf War.
The Kurds wanted and got recognition of the governments
they established in the northern zone since 1991, but not
the clear assurances they had sought that their militias
would be the only military force there.
Shi'ites had also wanted Islam to be recognized as the main
source of legislation; instead, it was recognized as one
source, and as the official religion of Iraq.
The agreed document embraces a federal state, as the Kurds
had demanded, and also sets a target that one quarter of
the Iraqi assembly due to be elected next year should be
women. (Additional reporting by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and Fiona
O'Brien)
LITHUANIAN PARLIAMENT AWAITS COURT RULING TO IMPEACH
PRESIDENT
AFP, 8 Mar 04, by Arturas Racas
Lithuania's parliament formally opened impeachment hearings
against President Rolandas Paksas on Monday, then adjourned
them until the Constitutional Court gives it verdict on the
charges against him.
The head of the Supreme Court, Vytautas Greicius, who was
invited to chair the proceedings, read the charges that
Paksas violated his oath, leaked classified information,
meddled with private business, discredited public
institutions and allowed his aides to abuse their powers.
"With the consent of both sides, I announce a break in the
impeachment process until the constitutional court makes
its ruling," said Greicius, referring to Paksas' lawyers
and the deputies who launched the impeachment.
"We think that it would not be right to conduct two
processes at the same time - one here and one in the
constitutional court," said Julius Sabatauskas, the deputy
chairman of a special panel that prepared the impeachment
proceedings.
"It could be problematic if the same witnesses are needed
in different places. The lawyers also could experience
problems if they are to work in court and parliament at the
same time," Sabatauskas added.
The Constitutional Court announced on Friday that it would
start its hearings on March 16 and is expected to deliver a
verdict three weeks later.
The impeachment hearings are likely to cloud Lithuania's
entry into NATO on April 2 and may even drag on to May 1,
when it becomes a member of the European Union.
The votes of 86 of the 141 members of parliament are needed
to remove Paksas from office.
Lithuania, which regained independence from the Soviet
Union in 1991, has never before confronted such a test of
its political system.
Paksas, a stunt pilot turned politician who had twice
served as prime minister, continues to deny all accusations
against him, saying they are part of a plot.
He has said he would run again if impeached, has been
actively campaigning since the begining of the scandal, and
according to a recent poll by the Lithuanian-British survey
company Baltijos Tyrimai, he would have the support of more
than 20 percent of voters.
"I would expect that the constitutional court will announce
its conclusions in the beginning of April, then parliament
could hold a final vote in the middle of the month,"
Ceslovas Jursenas, deputy speaker of the parliament told
AFP.
Jursenas said that the impeachment proceedings against the
president should not be allowed to drag on beyond April.
"If the court makes a thorough investigation, the
parliament likely will not be repeating it, so the process
can go faster," Jursenas said.
He also stressed that there is a "political will" not to
delay the process.
"Prime minster Algirdas Brazauskas wants very much it to be
over before May 1," Jursenas said.
Brazauskas, who was the last chairman of the Lithuanian
communist party heads the ruling Social Democrat party and
is seen as a potential candidate to run for president if
Paksas is impeached.
Valdas Adamkus, former president is also seen as potential
rival of Paksas in the elections but would get 19.8 percent
of votes, a 3.8 percent drop over January, according to the
survey.
GREEKS END SOCIALIST RULE, ELECT YOUNGEST PM
REUTERS, 8 Mar 04
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece swept away 11 years of socialist
rule in what newspapers said was punishment for policy
blunders, and elected its youngest prime minister to lead
the nation in Olympian tasks it faces this year.
In a conservative victory which was expected but surprising
in its size, Costas Karamanlis led his New Democracy Party
to a sweeping general election victory Sunday.
Karamanlis, 48 this year, and the nephew of a former prime
minister of Greece, has said he will work to bring foreign
investment to Greece and step up privatisation of state
firms.
Analysts said the clear victory strengthened his hand in a
likely stand-off with traditionally hostile unions who
support the socialists.
Karamanlis wasted no time in getting down to business and
before making his victory speech, he met Athens Olympics
chief organizer Gianna Angelopoulos, herself a former
conservative parliamentarian, to plot strategy to get
stalled work up to speed on the August Games.
``We must make the best efforts so the Olympic Games are
the best and safest ever held. It is a great opportunity
for Greece to show its modern face,'' he told cheering
supporters.
Karamanlis, a U.S.-educated lawyer, takes power just five
months before the Olympics, a massive security and
logistical operation for which preparations are behind
schedule.
It also faces a major foreign policy challenge in brokering
a deal with Turkey to help reunite Greek and Turkish
Cypriots before the island joins the EU in May.
Karamanlis, the first modern Greek prime minister aged
under 50, won the battle of the political dynasties sending
socialist leader George Papandreou into opposition.
MESSAGE OF CHANGE
Papandreou, son and grandson of former prime ministers,
entered the fray late in a desperate bid by the socialists
to use their popular foreign minister to claw back a
conservatives opinion poll lead of up to seven percent when
the election was announced in January.
But policy blunders caught up with Socialist PASOK, Greek
dailies reported Monday.
``It was a punishing vote for the mistakes of the past four
years,'' the daily Ta Nea said on its front page.
Weaknesses in education and health policies, and a fumbled
attempt at pension reform were among its shortcomings, it
reported.
The left-wing daily Avriani was stinging in its criticism
of the PASOK defeat.
``These are the grave-diggers'' it proclaimed above
pictures of outgoing premier Costas Simitis, finance
minister Nikos Christodoulakis and his deputy Christos
Pachtas. The latter was forced to quit early this year in a
property development scandal.
Karamanlis described the victory as a ``a new policy in a
new era'' and vowed younger leaders like himself would be
in the cabinet he is expected to announce later Monday.
Newspapers speculated that Karamanlis would appoint career
diplomat Petros Moliviatis to the foreign ministry and
George Alogoskoufis to the ministry of finance. Dimitris
Avramopoulos, a former mayor of Athens, was tipped to be
Culture Minister, a portfolio responsible for overseeing
Olympic preparations.
With 97 percent of votes counted, the conservatives were
heading for 165 seats in the 300-member parliament and 45.5
percent of the vote. In the 2000 election, the Pan Hellenic
Socialist Movement (PASOK) won 158 seats and New Democracy,
under Karamanlis, won 125 seats.
CROATIA TO HAND GENERALS TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL
Financial Times, 9 Mar 04, by Eric Jansson
Croatia yesterday agreed to hand over two retired army
generals indicted by the international criminal tribunal in
The Hague.
The decision marked an important step toward full
co-operation with war crimes prosecutors.
Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak figured prominently in Croat
forces' recapture of the former Serbian stronghold of Knin,
near the end of Croatia's war with Serbia in 1995. The
action culminated in violent reprisals against ethnic
Serbs.
Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, Croatia's justice minister, said both
men expected temporary release before their trials, in
exchange for full co-operation.
Croatian officials described their surrender as an early
fulfilment of promises by the new centre-right government
under Ivo Sanader, the prime minister. "With this, the
government shows its commitment to meet all its
international obligations," Mrs Skare-Ozbolt said.
Like neighbouring Serbia, Croatia faces pressure from the
US and the European Union to deliver to The Hague
individuals indicted for crimes committed during the Balkan
wars. These started in 1991 when Slovenia broke away from
the former Yugoslavia and ended in 1999 when Nato occupied
Kosovo and turned it into an international protectorate.
The top Croatian suspect, Ante Gotovina, another retired
general, remains at large.
Mr Sanader's promises of future co-operation have yet to
alleviate some diplomats' concerns that his Croatian
Democratic Union, remembered for its hardline nationalism
during wartime, could obstruct war crimes investigations
after regaining power last autumn.
"The government says it will fully co-operate with the
tribunal, but we have to see further action," says Ranko
Helebrant, Zagreb deputy chief of the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights.
However, Zagreb's co-operation on indictments such as those
against Gen Markac and Gen Cermak could win the government
a more sympathetic hearing from the international community
when it comes to higher-profile cases, such as that against
Gen Gotovina.
In Serbia, a new government led by Vojislav Kostunica, the
prime minister, is defying the tribunal. Mr Kostunica wants
alleged Serb war criminals tried in Serbia, not in The
Hague, and a senior cabinet minister offered nationalist
supporters a pledge of "no more extradition."
NOMINATION OF BOSNIA'S FIRST EVER DEFENSE MINISTER DELAYED
AGAIN
AFP, 8 Mar 04
The nomination of the first defence minister in Bosnia's
central government was delayed again Monday as Dragomir
Dumic withdrew his candidacy over alleged wrongdoing during
the country's 1992-95 war.
Dumic informed Prime Minister Adnan Terzic of his decision
to withdraw after a Bosnian Muslim man told reporters that
Dumic had forced him to give up his property during the
Balkan republic's 1992-95 war.
He said he was concerned that his appointment might be
rejected by international High Representative Paddy
Ashdown, whose office has sweeping powers under the Dayton
peace accords.
Last month Terzic rejected the nomination of Branko Stevic
-- like Dumic a Bosnian Serb -- because of his alleged
war-time crimes.
The post of central defence minister was created last year
under pressure from NATO, which is pushing for broad
reforms of Bosnia's postwar military structures.
Postwar Bosnia is split into two highly autonomous entities
-- the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb's Republika
Srpska -- linked by weak central institutions.
Since December Bosnia has had a central military command
and defence ministry but it still lacks a defence minister.
Bosnia hopes to join the NATO's Partnership for Peace
program, seen as the first step toward membership in the
alliance, during its summit in Istanbul in June.
US AND EU IN DISPUTE ON CONTROL OF BOSNIA FORCE
Financial Times, 9 mar 04, by Judy Dempsey
The European Union andUS are engaged in a
freshtransatlantic dispute over who should have control of
a new military mission in Bosnia once the EU takes over
from Nato this year, diplomats said.
The issue will be debated tomorrow at Nato headquarters
when the US-led alliance and the EU's special security
ambassadors thrash out fundamental differences over one of
the most ambitious missions undertaken by the EU.
At stake for the EU is its ability to show it can command a
strong and robust military operation. "We cannot end up
drying the dishes while the US runs the show," a senior EU
diplomat said. "We cannot be a junior partner to Nato. We
need overall responsibility for the mission," he added.
Britain is expected to command the EU's 7,000-strong force,
which will initially have a three-year mandate, starting
from December. More than 80 per cent of the 12,000 current
Sfor troops, sent by the United Nations in 1996 after the
Dayton peace accord that ended Bosnia's civil war, are
Europeans. The US, however, is caught between wanting to
pass as much of the burden-sharing in the Balkans to the
Europeans - which it has often demanded - while wanting to
maintain some political control over EU military missions
in the region.
Nato and EU diplomats say the US wants the alliance to
retain responsibility for finding alleged war criminals
indicted by the International Criminal Court of the Former
Yugoslavia in The Hague.
These include Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb
leader, and Ratko Mladic, the military commander. Sfor has
been unable to capture either of them.
The US also wants to retain the counter-terrorism file and
keep the special forces of around 500 Italian carabinieri
under Nato control instead of placing them under EU
command.
"I don't see why we should have the special forces under
Nato instead of being under EU control," a senior European
diplomat said.
Nato will also keep a significant presence in Sarajevo
where, under the alliance's Partnership for Peace
programme, it will help the Bosnian authorities with
defence reform. "That's all for the good. But do you need a
two-star US general to do that?" another EU diplomat said.
The US will also keep its large base in Tuzla, north of
Bosnia, as one of its "footprints" in the region when the
US finalises plans to sharply reduce and bring home some of
its 120,000 troops located in Europe.
The US denies it wants to retain political control over the
EU mission. "It's just that September 11 changed our
perception of the Balkans," said one official.
POWELL TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE FOR MEETINGS ON AFGHANISTAN,
NATO
AFP, 3 Mar 04
US Secretary of State Colin Powell will depart for a
whistle-stop visit to Europe at the end of March where he
will take part in an Afghanistan redevelopment conference
and a NATO meeting, the state department announced
Wednesday.
Powell will leave Washington on March 30 and return on
April 2.
The US' chief diplomat will touchdown in Berlin first where
he will attend the International Conference on Afghanistan,
scheduled for March 31-April 1.
Powell will then travel on to Brussels where he will meet
North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers on
April 2 at a ceremony marking the accession of seven new
NATO allies.
The defense bloc will also discuss the agenda for its June
summit in Istanbul.
SENATOR CONDEMNS PENTAGON MOVE TO CUT NUMBER OF US TROOPS
BASED IN EUROPE
Financial Times, 5 Mar 04, by Peter Spiegel
Senator John Warner, the powerful chairman of the armed
services committee, yesterday voiced his opposition to any
significant reductions in the number of US forces based in
Europe, saying such downsizing was inappropriate during
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although the Pentagon has yet to announce specific plans
for troop levels in Europe, Nato diplomats have said they
are expecting reductions of as much as a third, one of the
biggest redeployments of American forces since the second
world war.
Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, ordered a review of all
overseas troop commitments shortly after taking office
three years ago.
But speaking at a hearing on the Pentagon's budget, Mr
Warner said he opposed even a study of a reduction,
although he was more accepting of plans to move troops
stationed in Germany into new bases in eastern Europe.
There are 120,000 US troops in Europe, two-thirds of them
based in Germany.
"Even the thought, at this particular point of time, with
the war on terrorism, of making any significant reduction
of forces concerns me greatly," Mr Warner told General Jim
Jones, US commander in Europe and Nato's military chief.
"This is certainly not the time for even any reassessment
of that."
Gen Jones said he supported overseas troops in principle
but did not address Mr Warner's concerns directly in his
oral testimony. In a written statement provided to the
committee, however, the general made clear his commitment
to reducing troop levels in Europe and creating a series of
smaller operating bases in the region.
"The United States' level of interest, commitment, and
military capability resident in this theatre should no
longer be measured exclusively by the number of troops
permanently based in Europe," he said.
Although Mr Warner is one of the most powerful Republicans
in Congress on military issues, he is unlikely to prevent
the Pentagon from making the changes through legislative
means.
His ability to affect defence department policymaking,
however, is significant. If he decides to make the
stationing of troops in Europe a personal cause, it could
severely complicate Mr Rumsfeld's efforts to make US forces
abroad smaller and more mobile.
At the same hearing, General John Abizaid, commander of US
troops in the Gulf, rejected calls by Shia leaders in Iraq
to allow them to set up local militias to protect
themselves from terrorist attacks such as the bombings in
Karbala and Baghdad this week.
Shia clergy have angrily criticised the US for not
providing enough security. The Shias' leading political
party, Sciri, has asked that its former armed movement, the
Badr Corps, be allowed to operate as a private militia.
GERMANY'S FISCHER PLEADS FOR SELF-CONFIDENT EUROPE
AFP, 5 Mar 04
Admitting Europe's past weaknesses, German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer called in an interview for a
"reconstruction of the West" to shape globalisation and
face up to terrorism.
He told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, in an
extract released Friday a day ahead of publication, that
Europe should have confidence in itself.
He said the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks in the United
States had laid bare "the weaknesses of Europe."
"The Europeans failed to get together to thrash out a
strategic analysis in the wake of the attack on their
closest ally," he said.
"We were not capable of dialogue when we needed to be, when
conflict broke out, and that was definitely the case during
the Iraq crisis."
That lack of foresight, with Europe starkly divided between
supporters and opponents of the US-led invasion of Iraq,
meant the bloc was unable to hold a coherent dialogue with
the United States.
Fischer said a "European pillar" in Western defence policy,
a concept still regarded warily by Washington, "should no
longer be treated as a taboo."
"NATO was initially an instrument of the Cold War, and it
will only really become an instrument of the 21st century
when the European strategic dimension is recognised," he
added.
The minister said there was a dawning realisation in the
United States that "a stronger Europe is good for Europe."
It would be part of a "reconstruction of the West that
would be decisively significant in positively shaping
globalisation and overcoming the threat of a new kind of
terrorism."
Fischer said such a consensus would help resolve crises in
the Middle East region where much of the threat came from.
He said the German, other European and US governments were
"in discussions" on how to unify their various Middle East
initiatives.
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