AFP, LONDON : With key European powers split over Iraq, NATO must resolve differences on defence policy between its 19 members if reforms are going to work, the leading IISS security think tank said.
“French and German opposition to US-led military operations in Iraq further jeopardised NATO's future cohesion, and its viability in carrying out new roles,” said the IISS' annual report on military capabilities, released on Wednesday.
“The key problem remains the issue of consensual decision-making, which is necessary in order to mount military operations”, the International Institute of Strategic Studies' 2003-2004 report said.
At a summit last November NATO invited seven new members to join the alliance in May 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
“If NATO is to have credibility in the future as it reforms and defines new structures and mission” the issue of decision-making must be resolved, the report said.
Meanwhile, Russia — while attempting to downsize and modernise its military — faces a growing problem in Chechnya, where a resolution of the conflict was a “distant problem”, the think tank said
“Casualties are mounting and rebels are increasing their operations against Russian forces and civilians: suicide terror attacks are their weapons of choice,” IISS said.
The last year has seen Russia seek greater cooperation with NATO on counterterrorism and a wide range of other military matters, IISS said.
“Despite Russia's alignment with France and Germany against the war in Iraq, the NATO-Russia relations have emerged virtually unscathed,” the organisation said.
The think tank also reported that NATO was planning to radically overhaul its command structures and enhance its capabilities to deal with likely new missions.
The NATO Response Force (NRF), a 9,000-strong rapid response force which was launched on Wednesday, “will give the alliance the capability to project force rapidly in strength over distance,” IISS said.
In another move to meet the challenge of new threats, NATO is to increase its ability to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks.
Given the objections of Britain among others to a central defence policy, the new European Union (EU) constitution is unlikely to affect the independence of member states' defence policies, IISS said.
“The issue of consensual decision-making is likely to be the main impediment to the military effectiveness of a nascent European defence capability, as it is for NATO,” the organisation said.
The annual report also blamed Europe's struggling economies and the public's limited threat perception for a growing gap in the US and European commitment to defence spending.
