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Greek Threat to EU Rapid Reaction Force

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By Ian Black

Guardian
April 18, 2002

Plans to set up a rapid reaction force for Europe were in fresh trouble last night after Greece vetoed a deal to consult its historic regional rival Turkey on the deployment of the fledgling force.

Greece's uncompromising position was stated on the eve of talks in Athens today with the EU's security and foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who is desperate to advance what is a central EU ambition.

Mr Solana is backed by Nato's secretary-general, Lord Robertson, in his efforts to persuade Greece to reconsider.

The planned 60,000-strong RRF is intended to give the EU some military muscle by carrying out limited peacekeeping and humanitarian roles in which Nato is not involved.

Crucially, however, it needs agreement with Nato to use its equipment - and this requires negotiations with Nato member Turkey, ever sensitive about its standing in the EU.

Greece has long been at odds with its neighbour over Aegean islands and Cyprus.

EU diplomats are angry that, with Turkish objections overcome, Greece is now blocking the plan. Officials in Brussels said they were not confident of a resolution after talks in Luxembourg on Monday.

Failure to secure Greek agreement soon will mean that the EU cannot take over Nato peacekeeping operations in Macedonia in the autumn. Macedonia is seen as the first test of the union's ability to shoulder even modest defence tasks, in the face of mounting US impatience with its underperforming European allies.

One diplomat said last night: "Effective European defence policy is at stake here."

More Information on Regional Organizations and Peacekeeping
More Information on the Rapid Reaction Force
More Information on Peacekeeping

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.