Brussels, 03/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - Two days short of the informal "Gymnich" meeting next Friday and Saturday in Riva del Garda (EUROPE of 3 September, p.5), the row over the creation of a planning cell for EU military operations "with or without" NATO appears to have subsided. The meeting of EU political leaders in Rome on 28 August (EUROPE of 28 August, p.2) seems even to have led to consensus on the need for progress in European capacity.
The British suggestion to create a planning cell for EU military operations within NATO, which was presented as a "snub" or a an idea "in competition" with the proposal to create a European headquarters in Tervuren, near Brussels, for EU operations carried out without NATO resources (put forward by Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg during the Summit in Brussels on 29 April (EUROPE of 30 April, p.4), is considered by the Belgian government a complementary idea, rather than an alternative. The Belgian government also feels that most of the other British suggestions, contained within the document "Food for Thought" (circulated during the 28 August meeting), are similar to several ideas that arose from the 29 April Summit, as Prime Minister Guy Verhofstad told the press on Tuesday EUROPE of 3 September, p.6). However, whilst the United Kingdom agrees with the idea of expanding the range of Petersberg missions (proposed by the EU High Representative for CFSP, amongst others, at the European Council of Thessaloniki: EUROPE of 20 June, p.4), they do not wish to see a new mechanism for reinforced co-operation in defence matters, as proposed at the Summit of 29 April.
Apart from the British document and the results of the April Summit, the Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting at Riva del Garda will also discuss the conclusion of the Rome meeting, to be presented by the Presidency. This meeting apparently gave rise to "differences of opinion" on the need to extend various initiatives to develop the EU's military capability: creation of a European command to strategic air transport; - creation of European "NBC" (nuclear, bacterial, chemical) protection capability; - creation of a European emergency humanitarian aid system; - creation of European joint training centres.