Email:
GETTING EUROPE READY TO DEFEND ITSELF
The terrorist attack by Chechen rebels in Moscow and its gory dénouement came as a fearful reminder of the threats we face. In the constitutional Convention on the future of Europe we are debating how the European Union can rise to the military challenge. There is widespread agreement, even among the supposedly 'neutral' countries, that we cannot run away and hide.
The problem is that Europe's military capacity is currently feeble. The facts almost speak for themselves. There are two million soldiers in the European Union, but only three per cent of these people in uniform are actually ready and willing to be sent into armed combat. Most of Europe's 2900 fighter planes cannot fly at night or in bad weather. Europe has no long-range heavy-lift aircraft of its own, and when Germany had to hire one Antonov airplane from the Russians it cost them 240,000 US dollars a flight. In 1999 the European Union agreed in principle to establish a Rapid Reaction Force of 60,000 troops for peace-keeping and humanitarian purposes. Sadly, it remains an agreement only in principle as military tensions between Greece and Turkey hold up its coming into being in practice.
The contrast with the USA could not be more stark. American military capability is vast and expanding fast. Fortunately, even the Bush administration is offering to share some of its planning and military resources with its European NATO partners. Instead of dragging its feet, Europe must respond positively to this offer. The gap between rhetoric and capability must be closed. It would be highly dangerous for the EU and NATO to compete with each other. There must be a close partnership between the two organisations for as long as it takes Europe to develop a more credible military presence autonomous from that of the United States. In the Balkans such close collaboration does work in practice. Paddy Ashdown, now Europe's representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, answers to both the EU and NATO. George Robertson, NATO secretary-general, and Xavier Solana, the EU's foreign policy representative, worked together successfully to de-escalate the civil war in Macedonia. Lessons have indeed been learned from the fiasco that was UNPROFOR in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
An important NATO summit is to take place in Prague in a week or two. Several new countries from Central and Eastern Europe will be given the green light for NATO membership. NATO's relationship with Russia will also take a further step forward. A new NATO Response Force will be established of 20,000 troops prepared actually to go into combat. All these developments must complement and not conflict with the EU's more tentative efforts. Patience is certainly needed as well as a serious political determination to provide Europe with the security and defence it needs and deserves.
Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for the East of England, is a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe.
LATEST NEWS
Click
here
Andrew's
work
in the European Parliament since 1999
Andrew is Vice-President of the European Parliament delegation to the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe.
Andrew drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights which has strengthened the rights of all the citizens of the European Union.
Andrew is working for improved links between the EU and Turkey, to encourage improvements in Turkey's human rights record and to enhance its democracy.
Andrew's campaigning in the East of England
Andrew has led calls for the Air Travel industry to be subjected to the same rigorous environmental criteria as other modes of transport
Site designed by Kevin Wilkins
and updated by Tim Huggan