NATO chief urges EU to forge true common foreign policy

NATO's recently appointed secretary general, the Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, delivered a blunt message to the EU about its defence ambitions when appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on 24 February: "What good will a EU defence identity do if there is no common foreign policy? Nothing!" he said, adding that he hoped there will be a stronger EU defence identity based on a common foreign policy, but that it "currently does not exist".

He played down the prospect of possible tensions between NATO and the EU, saying that with the upcoming enlargements of both organisations the two will soon have 19 members in common. It will need some time, but "co-operation between the two organisations should be widened."

The most important thing, he said, is for the two organisations to complement one another, and to avoid duplication of defence efforts: "There is one single set of forces, there are no EU or NATO labels on forces," he said, recapitulating the political basis for the so-called 'Berlin Plus agreement'. Under the agreement, which was finalised in March 2003, the EU can take military action only when NATO chooses not to act. He saw the recently announced Anglo-French plans to create battlegroups (See

EURACTIV, 10 February 2004) in that light and calmly added that "it will take some time, in my experience".

He called the EU's Concordia operation, whereby the EU took over from NATO the peacekeeping mission in Macedonia in March 2003, a "breakthrough", that could soon be repeated with the EU taking over NATO forces' work in Bosnia-Herzegovina: "This year there is a real opportunity for the EU to take it to a qualitatively new level," he said, suggesting EUFOR as a better name instead of the current IFOR.

De Hoop Scheffer said that NATO does not need a new strategy as has been suggested in some quarters. Rather, he supports the process of transformation away from territorial defence towards greater mobility of forces, a process which had been started by his predecessor Lord Robertson. "We need a discussion about usability, not a new strategy. As Dutchman," he added jokingly, "I want NATO to get more value for its money."

Asked by members of the committee, de Hoop Scheffer said, there were no concrete plans for a NATO role in Iraq, but, should a future "sovereign government" in Iraq ask for assistance, he thought NATO "would take a positive view".