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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020926/1/33729.html Agence France-Presse Friday September 27, 1:22 AM NATO chief sees "ambitious" expansion, worried about EU link -He also told a press conference in Berlin that a planned European Union rapid reaction force would not be affected by a US proposal for a standing NATO response force, but said he was disappointed at the lack of EU-NATO military cooperation. -"I think an ambitious enlargement is foreseen." -However, Robertson said he was "very worried, very concerned, about the lack of movement in linking the European Union to NATO in the permanent arrangements that were foreseen as part of this great project." -Critics charge that it would create political structures that would weaken NATO and split the United States, which has reacted coolly to the idea, from Europe. Earlier this week, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pressed his 18 NATO allies at a meeting in Warsaw to create a 21,000-strong NATO "response force" to deal swiftly with crises outside its traditional area of operation. -He added: "There is no threat to the European Union rapid response force from what has been proposed by the Americans this week." He said the US proposal "is designed to be complementary, additional ... it fits well with existing NATO structures and will give an additional sharp edge to our capability to deal with crises." NATO chief George Robertson said that he was confident that a landmark summit in Prague in November would result in an "ambitious enlargement" of the defence alliance. He also told a press conference in Berlin that a planned European Union rapid reaction force would not be affected by a US proposal for a standing NATO response force, but said he was disappointed at the lack of EU-NATO military cooperation. The November 21-22 summit is expected to agree how to transform and expand the alliance. "Although no decisions have been taken about the number of candidates," the secretary general said after talks here with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, "I think an ambitious enlargement is foreseen." Several central and eastern European countries are hoping to be invited to join NATO at the gathering, including the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia. However, Robertson said he was "very worried, very concerned, about the lack of movement in linking the European Union to NATO in the permanent arrangements that were foreseen as part of this great project." The European Union, which is also expanding, wants to develop its own rapid reaction force capable of intervening in disputes where the United States wants to keep its distance. Critics charge that it would create political structures that would weaken NATO and split the United States, which has reacted coolly to the idea, from Europe. Earlier this week, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pressed his 18 NATO allies at a meeting in Warsaw to create a 21,000-strong NATO "response force" to deal swiftly with crises outside its traditional area of operation. Robertson said he hoped to see "some breakthrough" before an EU summit in Copenhagen in December "in establishing the historic connection between the European Union's aspirations to have a security role, and NATO's historic offer to provide the capability that would allow the EU to act." He added: "There is no threat to the European Union rapid response force from what has been proposed by the Americans this week." He said the US proposal "is designed to be complementary, additional ... it fits well with existing NATO structures and will give an additional sharp edge to our capability to deal with crises." __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
