EU RAPID REACTION FORCE

EU RAPID REACTION FORCE HAS STARTED.

France is wary of such roles and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the conference there was an urgent need to define what security tasks should be handled by NATO and which by the EU, which has been creating its own rapid reaction units.

"It is clear that NATO is better equipped to handle heavy and long-lasting operations...But the EU is better adapted for lightning operations which call for fewer resources but more flexibility and faster action," she said.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop.

It is obvious that NATO and the EU share common strategic interests. Look at Afghanistan, where both NATO and the EU are heavily committed. Look at Kosovo, where the same is true. Look at the Middle East, to which both NATO and the EU are reaching out. Look at defence procurement, which costs billions of Euros. 19 countries belong to both organisations. One would think that they would all insist on the highest degree of complementarity and cooperation. But we have not achieved this goal. To be sure, there are institutional, political and technical reasons with which we are all familiar. This means that we are working past each other. It means that we are duplicating each other’s efforts. And that we are wasting taxpayers’ money.

I want to see a strong and vibrant European Union. I want it to grow in partnership with NATO as a major security actor. This is in all of our interests. We have to put pragmatism above dogmatism. We must build a true strategic partnership between NATO and the EU. I will work hard to help make that happen as soon as possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

NATO is cornerstone of transatlantic ties - MerkelSat 4 Feb 2006 10:50 AM ET(Adds Alliot-Marie, de Hoop Scheffer paragraphs 13-17, edits)
By Mark John

MUNICH, Feb 4 (Reuters) - NATO remains the central pillar of transatlantic relations but must broaden its scope to address post-Cold War security threats like global terrorism, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday. Merkel urged the 26-member alliance to forge closer security ties with non-NATO countries and called for a review of strategy by 2009, the body's 60th anniversary, to reflect the world after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The speech won warm applause at a top security conference in Munich, an annual event at which a call last year by her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder for a revamp of NATO dismayed U.S. officials, who saw it as an attack on the alliance. "NATO is the cornerstone of the transatlantic community of values ... it must be the place in which political consultations about new conflicts are held," said Merkel. The European Union's fledgling defence capability should be developed "not as a counterweight but a complement" to combined U.S.-European military resources within NATO, she said.

Merkel firmly backed the push by some in the alliance -- including the United States and Britain -- to reach out to potential partners such as Japan and South Korea, insisting NATO could not deal with global terrorism threats alone. "It is important that NATO develops a wide network of partners in other parts of the world," she said. Merkel said the last major change in NATO's strategy took place at the end of the 1990s, when it began developing abilities for rapid-reaction in crisis spots around the world.

She said its strategy now needed updating to reflect global threats highlighted by the September 11 attacks on the United States."I am a happy secretary-general," NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Reuters. "She gave a clear commitment to the transatlantic relationship and emphasised the primacy of NATO." Other reactions were also positive, in sharp contrast to those to Schroeder's call last year for an overhaul of NATO. Aides to the ex-chancellor said then that he was misinterpreted and that he only meant to prompt debate on strengthening NATO.

FRENCH MISGIVINGS

Tensions between the United States and European opponents of the Iraq war including France and Germany have since eased, and Merkel is widely seen to have made a good start in further healing the transatlantic rift which opened up during 2003.

However she brushed off repeated U.S. calls for European members of NATO to boost defence spending, saying Berlin had little chance of doing so in the near future. Berlin is under pressure from the European Union to cut its budget deficit.

Debate is warming over what type of tasks should in future be conducted by NATO, which this winter took on a first major humanitarian relief operation outside its borders by providing an airbridge to bring aid to victims of the Pakistan earthquake.

France is wary of such roles and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the conference there was an urgent need to define what security tasks should be handled by NATO and which by the EU, which has been creating its own rapid reaction units.

"It is clear that NATO is better equipped to handle heavy and long-lasting operations...But the EU is better adapted for lightning operations which call for fewer resources but more flexibility and faster action," she said.

De Hoop Scheffer said the absence of joint planning between the two bodies was "absurd". "We are duplicating each other's efforts wasting taxpayers' money," he complained.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

MY 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY SIGNING SITE STORIES SO FAR

01 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/take-bible-literal.html
02 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/islam-what-everyone-has-to-know-about.html
03 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/israelarabs-begginings.html
04 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/israels-land-through-isaac.html
05 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/timeline-of-israels-history-to-today.html
06 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2005/12/eu-7-yr-budget-no-accident.html
07 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/a-nation-reborn-may-14-1948.html
08 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1098-1291-crusaders.html
09 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1453-1683-ottoman-empire.html
10 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1783-1912-europe-carves-up-mideast.html
11 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1897-first-zionist-congress.html
12 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1914-1936-ww1-and-its-aftermath.html
13 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1916-sykes-picot-agreement.html
14 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1916-borders-of-modern-mideast.html
15 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1918-british-mandate-over-palestine.html
16 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1922-britain-creates-transjordan-for.html
17 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1929-arab-riots-in-palestine.html
18 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1929-lateran-treaty-vatican.html
19 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1933-47-jewish-flight-from-persecution.html
20 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1948-israel-becomes-independent-nation.html
21 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1948-america-israel-relations.html
22 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1948-other-independent-trees-reborn.html
23 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1948-1973-rise-of-usa-in-mideast.html
24 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1948-israeli-arab-wars-begin.html
25 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/01/1950-jordan-cedes-west-bank.html
00 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/06/peres-ready-for-final-status-talks.html
00 - http://israel7777777.blogspot.com/2006/06/geneva-accord-could-be-7-yr-treaty.html

THIS SITE BACK STORIES

01 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/we-must-act-for-jerusalem.html
02 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/last-generation.html
03 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html
04 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/israels-land-not-ishmaels-land.html
05 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/church-dedicated-to-jesus-found.html
06 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/pope-john-paul-dies-at-84.html
07 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/blessed-new-year-to-israel.html
08 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/sanhedrin-after-1600-yrs-back-in.html
09 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/israel-must-not-be-separatedtrouble.html
10 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/world-flooding.html
11 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/israel-jerusalem-together-forever.html
12 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/final-status-talks-will-be-trouble.html
13 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/2005-whats-coming.html
14 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/from-nebuchadnezzar-to-today.html
15 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/if-arafat-deadtrouble-for-mideast.html
16 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/god-revealed-to-oral-roberts.html
17 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/prophesy-happening-on-this-day.html
18 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/club-of-rome-10-world-regions.html
19 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/eu-wants-in-final-status-talks-already.html
20 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/3rd-temple-update.html
21 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/wording-of-jerusalem-covenant.html
22 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/3rd-temple-sacrifices-to-be-done.html
23 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/belgium-leader-wants-united-states-of.html
24 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/world-nations-in-trouble.html
25 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/sharon-wants-arab-on-his-side.html
26 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/3-news-events-spacevatican.html
27 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2205/12/christians-pastored-by-rabbis.html
28 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/asteroid-impact-coming.html
29 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/king-davids-palace.html
30 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/sanhedrin-update.html
31 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/eu-and-world-empires.html
32 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/false-resurrection.html
33 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/lukewarmness-trouble-coming-2006.html
34 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/eu-7yr-budget-connected-to-wto.html
35 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/eu-troops-in-israel.html
36 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/solomons-temple-to-be-rebuilt.html
37 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/happy-chanukah-2005.html
38 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/jesus-is-god.html
39 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/stans-israeli-flag-issue-shot-down.html
40 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/destiny-of-nations.html
41 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/microchip-implants.html
42 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/12/elijah-and-moses-in-israel.html
43 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/2006-judgement-already.html
44 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/austria-2006-eu-takeover.html
45 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/ariel-sharon-has-massive-stroke.html
46 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/vatican-wants-control-of-jerusalem.html
47 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/sanhedrin-recognizes-council.html
48 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/israeli-election-candidates.html
49 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/iranian-leader-thinks-hes-messiah.html
50 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/144000-jewish-ministers-preach.html
51 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/lukewarm-liberals-goota-go.html
52 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/france-ready-to-nuke-iran.html
53 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/king-juan-carlos-of-spain.html
54 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-wins-palestinian-elections.html
55 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/eu-constitution-dead-or-alive.html
56 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-want-deal.html
57 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/02/eu-will-bring-in-forces.html
58 - http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2006/02/israel-solomons-dream.html