Brussels, 16/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - Addressing the European Parliament on 15 December, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she was committed to taking EU-NATO relations forward but was fully aware that Turkey had an important role to play, and also that she represented 27 member states. On the subject of the dispute between Cyprus and Turkey, that has lasted for years now, she said she would above all be seeking practical and pragmatic arrangements whereby the EU and NATO could work together in order to ensure “our troops on the ground” receive adequate backing. Capabilities cooperation is without doubt an area in which progress must be made, she said before a debate at the European Parliament as she briefed MEPs of the results of the NATO summit in Lisbon. She nonetheless sounded a note of caution saying they must carefully examine what they themselves are doing to ensure there is complementarity and not duplication. Most MEPs were critical of NATO's “Europeanisation”.
“I share your opinion on the Lisbon summit which has given birth to a new and totally satisfactory strategic concept” but “one must nonetheless acknowledge (…) that the poor relation in the text is the European Union-NATO relationship”, deplored Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France), who chairs the EP subcommittee on security and defence. Complementarity, he said, is “essential” and must be “smart”, but he would not wish for “complementarity to become something that is hard-and-fast, whereby the European Union would become the Red Cross for the NATO armed force”, he said. The EU must keep its military capability, its military ambitions and its CSDP objective, Danjean stressed. Rheinard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA, Germany) took up ironically saying that the EU had done a great deal to settle conflicts peacefully, but that now NATO wants to do the same and that, perhaps, it would also like to try its hand at development. Michael Gahler (EPP, Germany) suggested pooling capabilities between the EU and NATO. NATO is a point between Europe and the United States and still has a major role to play, said Charles Tannock (ECR, UK) but it is necessary to avoid duplication like, for example, the case of Operation Ocean Shield which duplicates Operation Atalanta (EU naval counter-piracy operation) for Somalia. Marisa Matias (GUE/Nordic Left, Portugal) deplored the behaviour by her government which prevented all protest against NATO, even peaceful protest, during the summit. “The two institutions are coming closer together so why not make the best of it”, asked Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, Poland), asserting that the EU was to play the role of leader for improving relations. (A.By./L.G./transl.jl)