APRIL 8th PREDICTION

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U.S. sets ambitious "global" NATO summit agenda

Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:27pm ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States set out an ambitious agenda on Monday for transforming NATO into a global security organization at a summit next month but acknowledged that some European allies have misgivings.

U.S. NATO ambassador Victoria Nuland said the 26-nation alliance had gone beyond debates about whether to act outside its Euro-Atlantic area, deploying forces on four continents in the last 18 months, most importantly in Afghanistan.

NATO is already performing missions in practice for which it has yet to adapt its theory, she said, forecasting tough drafting debates before the November 28-29 summit in Riga, Latvia.

"We want NATO to be able to demonstrate when our heads meet four weeks from now that we have an alliance that is taking on global responsibilities, that it increasingly has the global capabilities to meet those responsibilities, and that it is doing it with global partners," Nuland said in a speech to the Center for European Policy Studies think-tank.

The alliance is fighting Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan, supporting African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, patrolling former Yugoslav battlefields in Kosovo and has flown relief supplies to earthquake victims in Pakistan.

"For the next four weeks, allies are going to spend a lot of time arm-wrestling and mud-wrestling about the words that we use in our NATO documents ... to reflect today's reality.

"It's going to be a tense conversation as we head toward Riga," she said without identifying which allies objected to stating such global ambitions in the summit documents.

"But today, I would argue that the reality of what's going on in NATO is outstripping our ability to encapsulate it in NATO doctrine in theory here in NATO headquarters," Nuland added.

FRANCE MOST RETICENT

Diplomats said France was most reticent about accepting a global role for the U.S.-led alliance, of which it has been a prickly, semi-detached member since General Charles de Gaulle pulled French forces out of allied military command in 1966.

Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain also had reservations about appearing to rebrand NATO as a world policeman, they said.

Nuland said European allies were coming to realize in Afghanistan that they needed to spend more on defense and develop long-range airlift and more special commando forces to cope with 21st century security challenges.

Many European allies were spending less than NATO's unofficial minimum of 2 percent of gross domestic product.

The NATO Reaction Force, designed for rapid deployment to high-intensity combat situations, will not be fully operational in time for the Riga summit because of the strain on national defense resources, Nuland acknowledged.

"We are not all the way yet but we are making progress," she said.

But the summit will see progress on strategic airlift, with 14 allies and non-NATO Sweden signing a joint deal to acquire long-range C-17 heavy lift aircraft, and on joint training and communications for special forces.

Politically, Nuland said the NATO council was now discussing global issues far beyond the Euro-Atlantic area, such as the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....C1-ArticlePage2

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UK under French fire over defence

14.11.2006 - 09:24 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The UK has come under fire from France for blocking a move to extend funding for an EU agency driving integration in European defence policy.

At a defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (14 November), London refused to give the green light to the European Defence Agency budget being raised from

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Finland ratifies EU constitution

05.12.2006 - 15:27 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Finland ratified the EU constitution on Tuesday adding one more country to the list of member states having given the nod of approval to a document whose fate is still undetermined.

The parliament approved the constitution by an overwhelming majority with 125 voting in favour and 39 against, with the Finnish president still to sign off the procedure, expected sometime next week.

Finland's move makes it the 16th member state to largely complete ratification of the document and the seventh country

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EU passport-free zone to expand to 'new Europe' by end 2007

05.12.2006 - 17:59 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU interior ministers have given the green light to lifting controls at borders with the "new" member states by the end of next year if they prove ready to safeguard Europe's new external frontiers.

The agreement hammered out on Tuesday (5 December) comes after strong political pressure from the countries that in 2004 joined the EU, but not the so called Schengen passport-free zone within the union, of which only the UK and Ireland are not members.

Earlier this year, the original plan to expand the borderless area in October 2007 appeared likely to be delayed by a minimum of two years, caused by backlogs in the completion of a central database designed to store various data on people or stolen cars available to police and border officials across the bloc.

The new member states reacted with dismay to such a scenario, arguing that it was based on the political decision rather than due to technical reasons and pressing for the EU to keep its promise to their citizens instead of treating them as "second-class" nations.

But after national experts recognised as workable a Portuguese idea - saying that the newcomers should enter the currently existing database used by 15 Schengen countries before the new one is finished - the other member states gave their support.

"It is a historic decision as it brings an end to the division of Europe," said Czech interior minister Ivan Langer, adding that the freedom of movement was one of the key arguments for countries such as his own to join the EU.

"The new member states have managed to join forces and their effort has brought a clear result," Slovenian minister Dragutin Mate told EUobserver, adding "I am quite convinced that we will all be able to join the Schengen zone by the end of next year."

However, new entrants will only be allowed into "Schengen" if they prove they are ready to safeguard Europe's new external frontiers in the course of next year.

"Lifting of the internal border controls to each of the new member states can only happen when all the conditions for a complete cooperation have been accomplished," Danish minister Lene Esperen pointed out.

According to a European Commission report circulated among ministers, some countries are not yet ready in this respect, with Slovakia singled out for its shortcomings in securing its 98-km border with Ukraine.

http://euobserver.com/9/23029

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Important Mideast declaration signed at Tampere EU conference

EU states, as well as Arabs and Israel approve text

Erkki Tuomioja

The European Union and Mediterranean countries reached agreement in Tampere on Tuesday on a joint declaration on a number of issues, including the Middle East peace process.

The statement confirms that the partners are committed to a just, comprehensive, and sustainable solution in the conflict between Israel and the Arabs.

The text was accepted unanimously, although Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that lengthy discussion was needed first.

In addition to the EU countries, signatories included Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Signing on behalf of the Palestinians was former cabinet minister Nabil Shaath, who is a close advisor of President Mahmoud Abbas. The declaration was approved at the end of the two-day Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (EUROMED).

The text on the Middle East was fairly general in its language. Foreign Minister Tuomioja said that it is not intended to substitute any other initiatives and actions that have been taken on behalf of peace. "It nevertheless offers us important political framework for 35 states", Tuomioja noted at the end of the meeting on Tuesday.

He praised the discussions held on the Middle East, which began at Monday evening

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EU to choose Galileo seat despite technical delays

11.12.2006 - 09:28 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU ministers are set to choose the seat of Europe's satellite navigation programme Galileo - an ambitious project to compete with the American GPS by 2011 - but a decision on private contractors has been delayed.

Eleven countries - the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Malta, Belgium, France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy - have applied to host the public body to oversee the programme dubbed the Galileo Supervisory Authority.

The EU's transport ministers will debate the location of the supervisory body during a working lunch within a general meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (12 December).

The move comes after EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot admitted on Friday that negotiations with the group of eight private partners who will manage the Galileo system - originally planned to close in late 2005 - were still ongoing.

"No one has an interest in seeing these talks fail," he said in a Brussels press conference, but did not say when the talks would resume.

"I think that even if there is a little delay in signing this concession contract, things are on the right track," said Mr Barrot.

The European Commission has launched an open consultation with stakeholders on how the EU should make the best use of the satellite navigation applications which will emerge once Galileo is completed, mainly in terms of the legal framework for the role of public bodies in its development.

Brussels believes the system will bring new prospects to various commercial sectors which will eventually help to boost the economic growth and jobs and also "improve the daily life of citizens around the world."

The system is mainly supposed to be used for civilian purposes - such as the management of Europe's transport infrastructure - railways, roads and sea lanes - and will cost about

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Muslim boom in France: more mosques, fewer churches

Madrid, Nov. 06, 2006 (CNA) - In the last thirty years more mosques and Muslim prayer centers have been built in France than Catholic churches in the last century. Spanish weekly Alba revealed the statistics last week which, they say, indicate a Muslim boom in a nation historically considered

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Why Europe looks like an extended vacation

BY M. N. HEBBAR

20 November 2006

AROUND the chancelleries of Europe and the dining tables of Brussels

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Helsinki urges clarity from Israel on 'nukes' remark

13.12.2006 - 09:27 CET | By Mark Beunderman

The Finnish EU presidency has called upon Israel to clarify its apparent acknowledgement that it has nuclear weapons, with Finland's defence minister saying he hopes the issue will not impair the international peace mission in Lebanon.

Finnish defence minister Seppo Kaariainen told Germany's Berliner Zeitung on Wednesday (13 December) that it is up to Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, to explain what is widely seen as a slip-of-the-tongue made on Monday.

Mr Olmert in an interview with German TV, grouped Israel - which has never publicly admitted that it has nuclear weapons - together with states which openly run nuclear arsenals.

The Israeli leader said "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"

"I believe Mr Olmert should further explain what this information really means," said Mr Kaariainen, who was apparently speaking on behalf of the European Union, adding that "the EU will watch very closely which reactions the Israeli statement will cause in the region."

"I hope above all that the international crisis management which started last summer in Lebanon can be continued without interference," the Finnish minister said, referring to a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon which was launched after a bloody summer war between Israel and Hezbullah.

EU states provide around half of the 15,000 troops of the UN force, with Italy and France being the largest contributors.

The Finnish presidency during last summer's conflict pushed a critical EU line towards Israel, calling Israeli operations "disproportionate" while promoting EU conclusions calling for an "immediate ceasefire."

Some EU states like the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic however objected to Helsinki's line and took a more pro-Israel stance.

http://euobserver.com/9/23087