euro|topics - European security policy

08/09/2008

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Main focus of Thursday, March 29, 2007

European security policy

The Czech government has officially begun negotiations with the US for participation in the latter's missile defence system. Poland is considering a similar step. Does this defeat Europe's attempts to develop a common security policy that takes account of both American and Russian interests?

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

The Czech government has begun official negotiations for stationing a radar system as part of the US missile defence shield. However, following demands from abroad the Czech Republic now wants the project to be carried out under NATO supervision. Adam Cerny approves: "Talk of a new Cold War is exaggerated. The US and Russia are no longer irreconcilable ideological opponents. They have many common interests, such as the fight against international terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But the main thing now is that the allies reach a consensus about the missile defence system. Otherwise the alliance will lose its meaning. It would be unfortunate if this defence system led to a Europe that is as divided as it was at the beginning of the war in Iraq. For both Americans and Europeans, the best and most effective defence continues to be a joint one." (29/03/2007)

Le Soir - Belgium

For Richard Werly, "the EU is stuck. Firstly because it knows how much strategic questions are a divisive issue among the 27. The consequences of the war in Iraq and the alignment of several new EU member countries with the USA have left their mark. The Union is also in trouble because it needs Russia, a major provider of gas. So the EU priority is to get Moscow to sign a long-term energy agreement, designed to guarantee supply with absolute transparency. In short, the anti-missile defence system is one of the obstacles on which European diplomacy could easily stumble. ... Some see in this Russian-American strategic arm-wrestling an opportunity for European defence. The EU can no longer go on as if the anxieties of Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania did not exist. The anti-missile defence system brings the Union back to the hard realities of underlying power struggles in the continent." (29/03/2007)

The Guardian - United Kingdom

Joschka Fischer, former German Minister of Foreign Affairs, points out that Europe's policy towards Russia is in poor shape. "Indeed, it increasingly resembles a chicken farm after a fox has broken in. And now, with the US announcement that it will build the anti-missile defence system on a bilateral basis with Poland and the Czech Republic, there is also a hawk circling overhead. Confusion and panic are spreading in Europe.What is most frightening about all this is not the American anti-missile project or Putin's rhetorical muscle-flexing, but rather the increasingly dramatic European weakness that the episode has exposed. The EU has been working for a decade on a common foreign and security policy. So how can discussion of an issue as crucial as the establishment of an American anti-missile defence system in Europe be ignored at the EU level, with no attempt being made to find a joint European position?" (29/03/2007)

» To the complete press review of Thursday, March 29, 2007

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