Rome, 06/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Most European Defence Ministers feel that it is "desirable and possible" for Europe to take over from NATO's SFOR mission in Bosnia in 2004, indicated Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino after the informal meeting of Defence Ministers in Rome on Saturday. Most Ministers appeared to support the United Kingdom taking command in these operations. Several acceding countries expressed their wishes to take part in the operation as full Member States, rather than as "third countries" as in the Concordia operation. The relief operation will thus start after May 2004.
Antonio Martino indicated that the EU should "be in a position to decide" after the informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, to take place in Colorado Springs on 8 and 9 October. He feels that American opposition to this operation is "pure speculation". "I am sure the Pentagon must be in favour of scaling down its commitment in the Balkans, now it has such commitments elsewhere", he commented. The Italian Minister welcomed French Defence Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie's idea of starting to plan the operation very soon.
There are currently 12,000 men stationed in Bosnia under SFOR, including 1,500 Americans. According to diplomatic sources, the European relief troops are likely to be around 6,000 strong. There are already some thousand Dutch soldiers on the ground.