THE NON-ALIGNED AND THE UNINCLUDED
87. A problem frequently raised in relation to the
integration of the WEU and the EU is that of the role of the European
members of NATO which are not members of the EU, and the members
of the EU who are not members of NATO. There are now six countries
in the former category (Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Norway,
Poland and Turkey) and four in the latter (Austria, Finland, Ireland
and Sweden). Of these four, all except the Republic of Ireland
have joined the PfP, and it has been recently reported that the
Irish government intends to seek parliamentary approval for an
application to become a Partner.[183]
88. Proponents of an enhanced ESDI tend, in their
public pronouncements, rather to skate over the institutional
problems of integrating the political and military capabilities
of the ESDI with these non-concentric memberships, although all
pay lip-service to the necessity of their inclusion. The Foreign
Secretary has said that—
... we do not just seek the tolerance of NATO colleagues
who are not members of the European Union; we want their enthusiastic
support for the enterprise in which we are engaged and also their
participation wherever it is appropriate.[184]
But while the WEU does, potentially, provide a political
decision-making forum for controlling military deployments, it
is not self-evident that it is inherently more efficient than
the EAPC (or the OSCE for that matter). The Secretary General
of the WEU told a recent conference that the WEU could have coordinated
Operation ALBA, which was designed to protect the delivery of
humanitarian aid in Albania in Spring 1997;[185]
but this operation was eventually undertaken an ad hoc coalition
led by Italy.
89. The institutional arrangements for political
decision making within a reformed ESDI will require careful consideration,
and must be so framed as to include and reassure our Allies who
are not in the EU, and avoid the risk of impasse with the member
States who are not in the Alliance. If the EU is to be merged
with the WEU, NATO together with Austria, Finland, Ireland and
Sweden, will have to reconsider their relationship to take account
of those nations' traditions of neutrality.
183 See eg Financial Times, 29 January 1999 Back
184 Speech
to the North Atlantic Council, 8 December 1998 Back
185 Speech
at the Royal United Services Institute, 10 March 1999 Back
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