Brussels, 08/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered an oral defence in favour of transatlantic and international cooperation. As proof of this new resolve, he stressed the fact that the first visitor received by George Bush after his re-election was NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and that his first official visit will be to Europe. "We are reaching out to the Europeans and hope the Europeans will reach out to us", he said, although he felt that "although public opinion in Europe did not support our action in Iraq", he believes nonetheless that "there is an important reservoir for transatlantic friendship". The outgoing Secretary of State, who is making his farewell tour of Europe, said during his conference organised by the German Marshall Fund that "we have so much in common" that our relations "can never break" and can manage the "bumps and bruises that can heal more quickly than in less mature relationships".
NATO has a "predominant role to play in the transatlantic relationship", Mr Powell said, adding: "The Alliance is more active than ever, and still open to new members". NATO and the European Union have "blended" their forces, following the Berlin Plus rules, Colin Powell stressed, recalling that the United States had at the outset been "concerned" by the idea of European defence but had then been reassured by the fact that the Berlin Agreements give NATO superiority. One student asked whether there could be a European army. Colin Powell does not believe so, "because there are too many questions of national sovereignty". He does not believe that a minister or a parliament would agree to give up its control over its own troops. He has more faith in the interconnection of small specialised forces from the smaller Member States and more global armed forces from the larger Member States.
Colin Powell welcomed the contribution made by "many of the 25 EU Member States on the ground in Iraq". He said that "there is a true chance of success in Iraq". "It is in everyone's interest" for elections to be a success, he stated, calling on Europe to contribute to this.
The Secretary General highlighted, at length, the importance of the OSCE but Russia, particualryv in the context of the Ukrainian crisis accused the USA of controlling this international ortanisation (see above). Powell declared that the OSCE could be proud of having helped the Ukrainian people. He also said that the moment had come for the OSCE to expand its work even further and hoped that it would monitor the elections in Palestine.