Analysis: U.S. allies rap EU defense summit

The leaders of Europe's anti-war camp, dubbed the "coalition of the unwilling," are due to meet in Brussels Tuesday to sketch out plans aimed at creating a standing European Union army capable of acting independently of NATO.

However, as the heads of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg prepare to converge on the self-styled "capital of Europe," Washington's allies on the continent warned that pitting the EU against the United States could lead to a damaging new transatlantic split. "We won't accept, and neither will the rest of Europe, anything that either undermines NATO or conflicts with the basic principles of European defense we've set out," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters in London.

Spurred on by Europe's glaring divisions over Iraq, the mini-summit's host - Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt - wants the 15-member bloc to set up a permanent force of "tens of thousands" of troops capable of intervening at short noticeanywhere in the world. He also backs setting up an EU central command outside Brussels, creating a centralized European arms procurement agency and signing a "one for all and all for one" security pact among Union states modeled on the infamous Article IV of NATO's founding treaty.

Verhofstadt insists the mini-summit is not directed against the NATO military alliance or Washington, but like French President Jacques Chirac, he is in favor of Europe acting as a military counterweight to the U.S. "hyperpower." "The Iraq crisis has perhaps played the role of a catalyst, in the sense that it has once again shown that, if Europe is not coherent in defense and foreign policy matters, it will not play a large role," he told Belgium's Le Soir newspaper.

Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker, who all opposed the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, are expected to make vague promises, rather than concrete commitments, to boost the EU's defense role Tuesday. But the chances of getting the EU's other 11 members - ranging from neutral Ireland, to pacifist Austria, to belligerent Britain - to chant the same marching song appear slim. Most other European leaders have already distanced themselves from Verhofstadt's initiative, which comes just four months after the EU signed a ground-breaking deal with NATO to use its assets during peacekeeping operations.

In an interview with the Financial Times, British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned against Europe "setting itself up in opposition to America," describing the idea of rival power blocs as "dangerous and destabilizing." Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush's closest ally in Europe, said moves to set Brussels against Washington would "end up reawakening some of the problems we had in the Cold War with countries playing different centers of power off against each other."

Italy, another staunch supporter of the United States, also launched a pre-emptive strike against the creation of a standing European army Tuesday. "If the embryo of an increased military co-operation were to develop in Brussels, I would regard it with a very critical eye," said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Supporters of the Belgian plan argue that the EU can only become a world power if it pools its military resources to get more 'bang for its euro.' At present, though the EU spends almost 60 percent as much as the United States on defense, its capabilities are only 10 percent of America's because of duplication and high running costs.

"Despite the criticism that has been leveled at it, tomorrow's meeting of Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg is sending out the right signal," said Professor Werner Weidenfeld of Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation. "It is clearly preferable to make significant progress in a small group than to wait for timid moves in a large group."

However, defenders of the status quo argue that the EU is already busy setting up a 60,000-strong peacekeeping force and that a European army without Britain, the continent's strongest military power, would have been like creating the euro without Germany. "The idea of a European defense based on Belgium and without England -
I wonder if that's particularly serious," British Minister for Europe Denis MacShane said last month.

Britain, which sent troops to fight in Afghanistan and both Gulf wars, has over 40,000 troops, compared to Belgium's 3,000. Unlike most of the countries that support a stronger EU military role, London is one of the few capitals that is busy upgrading its armed forces. Verhofstadt - who is in the midst of an election campaign in fiercely antiwar Belgium - defended his proposal in a series of weekend interviews. "If we had said 'we can't make the monetary union without Britain,' Belgian citizens would have continued to use the Belgian francs today," he said.

Tuesday's meeting has been marred by controversy since it was first mooted by Verhofstadt last month. Greek premier Costas Simitis, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, initially said he would attend but has since cancelled his visit. European Commission President Romano Prodi said he was not invited to the one-day meeting, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana - who described the concept as "interesting," has absented himself, while even French and German politicians have sought to play down the summit's importance in recent days.

Chirac, who is anxious to heal a bitter rift with Bush over Iraq, said Monday that both the EU and NATO would benefit from a beefed-up European military presence. "The strengthening of European defense will also strengthen the Atlantic alliance," a statement from the president's office said.

Daniel Keohane, a researcher at the London-based Center for European Reform, says the "gang of four's" decision to push for a stronger EU military role is welcome if it leads to a bridging of the capabilities gap between Europe and the United States. "But an avant-garde that amounts to no more than political grandstanding, and further divides the EU, will do nothing to enhance the fragile credibility of European defense policy," Keohane added.

Conducting diplomacy by resolution has long been Europe's weakness. Giving the EU the teeth to back up its well-meaning words with force would enable it to play a leading role on the global stage. But finding a way to do this without alienating Washington, sidelining NATO or breaking already overstretched budgets is likely to occupy the minds of European leaders long after Verhofsadt and company have finished playing politics with what are for now, at least, paper-bound soldiers.