UK supports French proposal for a common European defence policy

09:29 GMT, July 3, 2008 Great Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband sent a surprisingly clear signal of support for French plans to strengthen Europe’s defence policy. In a speech yesterday he stated that EU members should be able to deploy troops without waiting for NATO.

“The countries of Europe need to be better at using hard power. That is why I strongly welcome President Sarkozy's proposals to re-integrate France into NATO's military structure and support his call for the EU to play a greater role in crisis management,” Miliband said.

France, which currently holds the EU presidency, announced that deepening cooperation on defence and security issues between its members will be one oft its key priorities within the next six months. The country which was a founding member of NATO, left the alliance in 1966. French President Charles de Gaulle at that time rejected the U.S. dominance of the military confederacy.

Miliband also pointed out that developing European defence capacity would be no threat to NATO: "NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of European defence." In this context he quoted Victoria Nuland (U.S. ambassador to NATO), who emphasized the need for a "more capable European defence capacity."

“As the Balkans wars in the 1990s demonstrated, unless Europe can develop its own capabilities it will be consigned always to wait impotently until the U.S. and NATO are ready and able to intervene,” Miliband illustrated.

Despite his support to Sarkozy's European defence plans, Miliband relativised at a statement with Britain's Channel 4 News: “It's not a European army. There's no question of a European army. President Sarkozy is against a European army and so am I. What we are in favour of is British, French and other troops working together.”

Behind its superior priority Paris urges London to drop its objections to budgeting of the European Defence Agency (EDA). The French expects EDA to harmonise military programmes, identifying security technologies and improving European autonomy.

Critics cited at a British‘Telegraph’ article that any EU defence role would amount to a costly and wasteful duplication of NATO structures: “Any resources given to EU military ventures are, of necessity, denied to NATO's deployments, particularly the overstretched mission in Afghanistan.

Moreover, Europe's increased defence ambitions may strengthen isolationist sentiment in America and undermine Washington's commitment to NATO.“

This recent plans seems to collide with its very own military budget cutting which was announced in the white paper last month.


---Background information---

France recently published its ambitious European defence plans with “The French White Paper on defence and national security”.

According to that, French military spending will remain at 1.7 percent its domestic GDP. NATO continues to call on its members to raise their budgets to at least 2.0 percent of GDP.

The relevant part of the French white paper declaring their presidency’s goals towards a common European defence policy:

“The European ambition stands as a priority. Making the European Union a major player in crisis management and international security is one of the central tenets of our security policy. France wants Europe to be equipped with the corresponding military and civilian capability. The White Paper proposes several concrete goals for European defence in the coming years :

- Set up an overall intervention capability of 60,000 soldiers, deployable for one year in a distant theatre with the necessary air and naval forces;

- Achieve the capability to deploy for a significant duration two or three peace-keeping or peace-enforcement operations and several civilian operations of lesser scope in separate theatres;

- Increase the European planning and operational capability both military and civilian, in parallel to the development of interventions outside the European Union;

- Create impetus and restructure the European defence industry.

In addition, the White Paper emphasises four priority areas for the protection of European citizens: the reinforcement of cooperation in the fight against terrorism and organised crime; the development of European civil protection capabilities; the coordination of the defence against cyber-attack; and the se-curing of energy and strategic raw materials supply.

Lastly, the White Paper advocates the drafting of a European White Paper on defence and security.”