Church of God News

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been looking to tighten France’s links with NATO, particularly ahead of its April summit that will celebrate the alliance’s 60th anniversary.

The European official and a French military official said France is in talks to put a French general in charge of two command posts: one in Norfolk, Virginia, responsible for laying out the long-term vision of the Atlantic alliance; the other an operational command based in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

The French official also spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are still under way.

The Norfolk command, known as the Allied Command Transformation, is particularly prestigious. It is responsible for helping lay out the alliance’s doctrine and for training and preparing for future scenarios, among other duties.

The Obama Administration has announced it will back the full reintegration of France into the NATO command structure, with French officers reportedly in line to take two senior Alliance command positions: Allied Command Transformation (one of NATO’s two supreme commands, based in Norfolk, Virginia) and Joint Command Lisbon (one of NATO’s three main operations headquarters, which also commands the NATO Rapid Reaction Force).[1]

This is a highly significant development that would put France at the heart of NATO military planning and reform proposals and represents an ill-thought-out and risky concession by Washington to the Sarkozy administration.

In a major speech at the Munich Security Conference on February 7,[2] Vice President Joe Biden welcomed France’s decision “to fully participate in NATO structures” and also made it clear that the United States will “support the further strengthening of European defense, an increased role for the European Union in preserving peace and security, [and] a fundamentally stronger NATO-EU partnership.” Biden’s remarks echoed the views of British Defence Secretary John Hutton, who recklessly backed French plans for a European Union army last October…

America Has Little to Gain–and a Lot to Lose

It is likely that the Obama Administration will regard France’s reintegration into NATO as a diplomatic masterstroke. The Administration will claim that it has rebuilt the Franco-American relationship in a mutually beneficial way, and Sarkozy will in turn claim that it tangibly demonstrates France’s commitment to standing alongside America.

However, the Administration must ask itself what the U.S. actually gains from such a quid pro quo…

French reintegration into NATO command structures offers little additional value to Washington but gives immense momentum to French ambitions for an autonomous EU foreign and defense policy. When French presidents talk about European foreign policy, they more often than not mean French foreign policy. Equally, when Sarkozy talks about increasing European security capabilities, he means decreasing American involvement in Europe…

Simply Unacceptable

It is difficult to see how a greater EU defense capability will actually strengthen the NATO mission or the broader transatlantic alliance. Indeed, encouraging a bigger military role for the EU can only make NATO’s task more complicated. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Europe/wm2285.cfm.