EU ambitions of independent defense get on US nerves

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 22, 2003

EU ambitions of independent defense get on US nerves

NATO ambassadors held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the possible impact an independent EU defense structure would have on NATO.

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NATO ambassadors held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the possible impact an independent EU defense structure would have on NATO.

This informal meeting served as preparations for a formal joint meeting of senior NATO and EU diplomats on Tuesday, when the EU is supposed to clarify its plan for an independent defense arm, which has increasingly got on the nerves of Washington.

The row between the two sides was triggered in April, when France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, fresh from their face-off with the Unite States over the Iraq war, agreed at a summit to setup a military planning organization for EU crisis management.

This endeavor, which threatens to undermine NATO, has come under mounting pressure from Washington.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demanded more transparency and a clarification of what was going on at an informal meeting ofNATO defense ministers early this month.

However, the EU seemed to have turned a deaf ear to the US calland decided to press ahead with the independent defense.

The joint meeting results from increasing bitterness on the part of Washington over the EU's independent defense ambition, which US Ambassador to NATO Nicolas Burns criticized as a waste ofthe alliance's scarce resources and a "most serious threat to the future of NATO."

Since World War II, NATO has been providing security cover for Europe, which is the foundation of the US global strategy and one of the primary measures for ensuring its domestic security.

Washington is firm in blocking every effort for defense independence by the growing Europe.

The EU attempt to incorporate a mutual defense clause into its constitution startled Washington. And the constitutionization of the military structure would cause further alarm as it would be more legally binding on the pro-US countries like Britain and Spain, leading to a Europe independent of the United States in defenses.

Washington charged that the EU failure to report to NATO the progress of its independent defense project shows its distrust in its ally across the Atlantic. In response to the charge, the EU said the plan is still under discussion and EU member nations haveyet to reach an agreement.

Washington's concerns grew after a meeting among the leaders ofFrance, Germany and Britain in Berlin three weeks ago, at which London softened its resistance to the plan.

Although British Prime Minister Tony Blair reiterated that defense cooperation among EU members would not undermine NATO, London is widely known to have narrowed its differences with France and Germany over the matter.

However, a consensus has been reached among the EU leaders and peoples on an independent defense system.

"There can be no Europe without European defense," said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on the sidelines of last week's EU summit.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the EU's rotating chairman said at a press conference at the end of the summit that Europe had started to move on its way toward defense independence and would press ahead with it.

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