04/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - British Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden is certainly not happy with the European Defence Agency's “Long-term Vision” and even less with the developments in European security and defence policy (ESDP) it suggests. He says in a press release of 3 October, “Some of the analysis in this report might be right, but the conclusions are wrong. As a blueprint for the future, it ensures that ESDP will continue to be a major distraction from NATO. The transatlantic Alliance is the indispensable security organisation of the democracies but it is in danger and its future is on the table. NATO needs to change but this requires a full commitment from all of its members, a task that is already difficult enough without the diversion caused by ESDP”. (oj)