NATO Tour for Young French Political Leaders -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 008071

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/PPD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRC KPAO OIIP OTRA FR NATO EUN
SUBJECT: NATO Tour for Young French Political Leaders -
October 13-14, 2005



1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: The future shape of NATO as
well as its ability to ensure collective security and co-
exist with an independent European defense have been the
subject of discussions in French political and media
circles for some time. At an illustrative debate at the
French Senate last year, two members of the French Foreign
Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee were
particularly critical of NATO. Former Senator and member
of the Commission, Jean-Yves Autexier, stated that "NATO is
not a security alliance, but a tool for global American
strategy in this it is an obstacle for European Defense."
Helene Luc, Vice-president of the Committee said: "We
should look at things honestly. NATO represents the
American dominance of European defense." Their comments
represent an example of one French mindset.


2. Given these types of French apprehensions, the Mission
takes full advantage of NATO tours for select participants
to broaden their knowledge of defense issues. The Public
Affairs Section recently arranged for a NATO tour for
emerging political leaders, both left and right of center,
and their tour highlighted NATO and European defense as
compatible, not antithetical. The day at the Joint Force
Command headquarters brought home that NATO is first and
foremost a military alliance as opposed to a political
organization. The French participants, mostly staff aides
on Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees at the French
Senate and National Assembly selected by Embassy Paris,
praised the tour for deepening their understanding of NATO,
the role of the Joint Force Command, and the importance of
collective defense to meet the challenges of the 21st
century. End Introduction and Summary.

DAY ONE


3. NATO headquarters: USNATO's Deputy Chief of Mission,
John Koening, began the day of briefings with an overview
of both the U.S.'s role in NATO and France's contributions
to the Alliance. He stressed that France and the United
States share the same vision for the strategic development
of NATO, but that where Iraq is concerned, the U.S. would
like to see greater French participation in the Training
Mission in ar-Rustamiyah. The DCM detailed U.S. involvement
in various peacekeeping missions, including Afghanistan and
the Sudan. He outlined how NATO coordinates humanitarian
efforts and gave the example of the strategic air bridge to
Pakistan that assisted the victims of the devastating
earthquake earlier that month.


4. The French Ambassador to NATO, Richard Duque,
accompanied by his deputy welcomed the group to the French
Mission to NATO. Ambassador Duque began the briefing with a
history of France's involvement in NATO and the withdrawal
from NATO's integrated military structure in 1966. He
underscored that the fact that France does not belong to
the integrated military structure is no longer an issue for
France or for its allies, and in no way hinders France's
ability to fully cooperate in NATO operations. The
Ambassador described NATO as an "instrument of
stabilization" and touched on NATO transformation, a term
he said he finds "mysterious," but recognizes that it is
in the interest of France to promote greater
interoperability. Ambassador Duque touched on the
"ambiguous attitude" of the U.S. with regard to the EU,
saying that the U.S. wants a strong Europe, but only within
the Alliance. NATO, he added, allows the U.S. to have a
presence in Europe and an independent European defense
would undermine this. The newest members to NATO are,
according to Ambassador Duque, adverse to an independent
European defense because they are intent on maintaining
their strategic alliance with the U.S. and are generally
wary of the EU. Finally, he suggested that the U.S. is not
as present as it once was in NATO because today it is
looking for more flexibility with the various ad hoc
coalitions it has established in Afghanistan or Iraq for
example.


5. The Counselor for the Portuguese Delegation to NATO,
Andre Melo Bandeira, gave a briefing in French on the
Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperative
Initiative that was very well received. Mr. Bandeira
discussed the Broader Middle East Initiative emphasizing
the difficulty in determining the boundaries of the Broader
Middle East. He also spoke about Turkey's membership bid to
the EU and again of the difficulty in defining the
political and geographical boundaries of Europe. This
briefing was followed by a discussion on NATO in
Afghanistan and the challenges facing NATO in that region.
This discussion was led by Colonel Andrew Budd of the
Strategic Policy and Concepts Branch of the NATO
International Military Committee. In a frank presentation
of the situation in Afghanistan, Colonel Budd regretted a
lack of planning ahead on the part of NATO and SHAPE in
Afghanistan. He said that this lack of vision is
responsible for the problems that ISAF has experienced
since 2004 and added that the massive sending of troops to
the region was not the right solution. The fact that NATO
commits to operations such as the ISAF mission in
Afghanistan without sufficient attention to the "end state"
is NATO's principal weakness, said Colonel Budd. He
described the logistical problems that slow down both the
reconstruction of the country as well as its stabilization.
He explained the purpose of the Provincial Reconstruction
Teams (PRTs) that are made up of military and civilian
personnel and sent to remote regions to extend the
authority of the Afghan central government, promote and
enhance security, and facilitate humanitarian relief and
reconstruction operations. He warned, however, of the
dangers that the PRTs face, being isolated and at the mercy
of local warlords.


6. The working lunch was an occasion to discuss NATO-EU
relations. Overall, briefers and guests agreed that France
and the U.S. are more aligned than separate and that NATO
and the EU generally speak with one voice. The briefing
after lunch continued the discussion on NATO and the EU
with a debate on the adaptability of the Berlin Plus
agreement and whether or not Berlin Plus is the best way
for the EU and NATO to work together. The example of Darfur
was put forth as an instance where Berlin Plus does not
work. The discussion also focused on the efforts that
remain to be made toward greater interoperability between
the NATO Response Force and the EU Battle Groups. The final
briefing in French, by the Deputy Public Affairs Officer
for USNATO, provided the group with a chance to recap the
information that they had gathered over the course of the
day and ask some final policy-related questions.

DAY TWO


7. Brunssum - Joint Force Command Headquarters: The Press
and Information Officer gave an extremely well-presented
and informative presentation of JFC and its place within
NATO's military structure. The group came away from this
briefing with a broader view of JFC's organization, its
mission range and its operational priorities. The briefer
gave an overview of JFC's command of the NATO Response and
ISAF operations in Afghanistan. The preparations for the
upcoming exercise in Cape Verde, "Steadfast Jaguar," were
outlined and the JFC Press Officer highlighted the extent
of the challenges that face NATO because of the need to be
operational quickly in any part of the world. Part of the
briefing was devoted to NATO Transformation and what this
means for the future of the Alliance. The participants'
questions focused, for the most part, on Afghanistan and
consequences on the ground of combining the commands of the
NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
peacekeeping operation with the U.S-led Operation Enduring
Freedom. France has been outwardly opposed to combining
these two operations and the group reflected this position.
The briefer stressed the danger of confusing peacekeeping
and the war on terror. At the end of the day the group was
unanimously enthusiastic about the day in Brunssum noting,
however, that this briefing, which dealt with the
operational and technical details of NATO missions ideally
should have come before the day-long briefings at NATO
headquarters that focused on policy and the decision-making
aspect of NATO.


8. CONCLUSION: The participants were extremely impressed by
the quality of the briefings as well as by the briefers.
Discussions in the train returning to Paris focused on the
tour's usefulness in dispelling a common notion in France
that NATO is an ageing institution that has become quasi-
obsolete since the end of the Cold War. Instead,
participants came away with a sense of NATO's adaptability,
both in its peace-keeping and peace enforcement operations,
and its new function in the war on terrorism. End
Conclusion
STAPLETON