The same news report mentioned that, as in Iraq, the EU is training security personnel in Afghanistan.
In December of last year a draft declaration by the European Council on the enhancement of European Security and Defence Policy [ESDP] reaffirmed the goal of "strengthening the strategic partnership between the EU and Nato...."
(Irish Times, December 11, 2008)
The above source added "EU leaders are also set to endorse a declaration on the enhancement of capabilities of European Security and Defence Policy [ESDP], which will set new goals for the EU to be able to deploy 60,000 soldiers within 60 days and thousands of civilian personnel on at least a dozen simultaneous missions."
(Ibid)
Another account of EU plans for a 60,000-troop rapid reaction force reports that EU leaders issued a joint statement in which they "acknowledged the need to strengthen and optimize Europe's defence capabilities and vowed to work more closely with NATO."
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur, December 12, 2008)
In another report from the same day French President Nicholas Sarkozy is paraphrased as affirming "the US no longer saw the ESDP as an aggressive
policy against NATO, with both outgoing President George W. Bush and incoming President Barack Obama now supporting the EU policy."
And is quoted as saying "It's not a choice between the US and the ESDP. The two go together."
(EUobserver, December 12, 2008)
On December 9 British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner signed their names to a joint opinion piece which included confirmation of the EU's role in supplementing US and NATO arms and military involvement in the South Caucasus and the interchangeability of NATO and EU roles:
"[T]he EU sent over 200 civilian monitors to Georgia. They arrived within a few weeks of the hostilities....
"There is no such thing as a European army; nor is there a NATO army.
"There are national forces, which are used, according to the needs, for national or multilateral operations, whether in the European framework or the NATO framework."
(United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, December 9, 2008)
Leading up to the April 3-4 60th Anniversary NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, earlier this month the heads of state of the two host countries, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wrote a joint commentary for Le Monde calling for greater EU-NATO cooperation and integration.
At the annual Munich Security Conference on February 7 British Foreign Secretary David Miliband while also advocating tighter integration of EU and NATO policies and actions invoked NATO's mutual defense (war) clause:
"NATO provides a commitment to collective defence. The Article 5 Guarantee and the integrated military structures reassure each and every one of our Allies that their borders are inviolable."
(United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office, February 7, 2009)
US Vice-President Joe Biden's speech at the conference was interpreted by a major German source as follows:
"The Americans will be scrupulously careful that the confrontation with Tehran does not develop into a one-on-one battle between the US and Iran. Biden's message from Munich is the following: Every NATO country and every member of the European Union is now involved, as of today. This is the price for the new trans-Atlantic openness and cooperation."
(Der Spiegel, February 9, 2009)
That is, all NATO states are obligated to the US under Article 5 provisions - the Article was first invoked and acted upon after September 9, 2001 - and the EU is now so inextricably enmeshed with NATO that it too will continue to follow not only NATO but individual US policies and actions.
With the New Year the Czech Republic assumed the presidency of the EU.
It a news report called "Vondra calls for EU, NATO unity on Russia, missiles, gas," Czech Deputy Premier Alexandr Vondra marshalled support for the US missile shield radar site in his nation by stating "Europeans and Americans need to enjoy the same level of protection ... therefore it is important to develop the missile-defence system."
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 7, 2009)
