Europe should leave NATO: Prodi
Mr Prodi praised Germany, France and Belgium for starting “a timely and good” debate on a European defence undertaking outside of NATO to ease Europe’s reliance on America for its security. Mr Prodi urged other EU nations to join them.
“It is evident the Iraq crisis has brought us to a new crossroads in transatlantic relations,” he said in Brussels. “We must choose a different path.”
A non-NATO European defence undertaking would give Europeans a more clout on the international stage and prevent them from being “left out from the management of world affairs,” he added.
Next month, the leaders of France, Germany and Belgium are to assess how successful an independent European defence initiative could be. Many see it as unachievable.
To be credible, an independent European defence would require hardware and manpower investments of a magnitude European governments have been unwilling to make at a time of sputtering economies and tight budgets.
An independent European defence initiative without proper capabilities would be a “paper tiger,” NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said yesterday at a ceremony at which Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia signed membership papers. They will join NATO next year, raising the alliance’s membership to 26 from 19.
An independent defence initiative in Europe would inevitably erode NATO and decouple Europe from the US which wants the Europeans to boost their defence posture, but within NATO, not independently.
Mr Prodi spoke after a European Parliament debate on the Iraq war’s impact on transatlantic relations and the EU’s oft-stated but elusive goal of crafting a single foreign policy.
European Parliament President Pat Cox said before complaining about the US no longer listening to Europe, Europeans should look at their own actions first.
“If Europeans will not listen to each other, how can we seriously expect others to listen to us?” he said.
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