Brussels, 19/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - Max Kohnstamm, from The European Policy Centre think tank, has written an open letter to the President of the European Council, Guy Verhofstadt, and to the other members of the European Council. In his letter he welcomes the support proclaimed by the Heads of State and Government of the European Union for military action undertaken by the United States against Bin Laden. It stresses, however, the concern felt by many citizens of the European Union about the "understandable lack of clarity about the future nature of what will, unavoidably, need to be a long-lasting campaign against terrorism". The former collaborator of Jean Monnet cites an article in which, on 2 November, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: "Yes, we must win the war on terrorism. But as we do so, we must also prepare for the next war". In his open letter, Max Kohnstamm recognises that the use of military force in the future cannot of course be ruled out. However, he added, "if the suspicion should take hold that decisions concerning the nature of future action might quasi-automatically take the form of military intervention, the support from public opinion throughout Europe for the position taken thus far by the European Council could well be seriously weakened". Mr Kohnstamm therefore suggests that the European Council of Laeken should adopt a declaration specifying that no further military action against other States will be undertaken without full prior information, open discussion and the application of the democratic process of the European Union and its Member States". He stresses that "it is essential to prevent that democracy would ever become a collateral damage from the indispensable anti-terrorist campaign".