US Defence Secretary William Cohen has got tough with his European colleagues, telling them if they don't start spending more on their military and work out a new EU-NATO relationship, the alliance could become a relic of history.
The 15-nation European union is developing its own rapid-reaction force, separate from NATO but with plans to share some NATO planning facilities, intelligence and communications. It would use the force to address crisis that the trans-Atlantic alliance does not want to get involved in. The EU wants to be able to field a 60,000-man force by 2003.

NATO Secy-Gen Lord Robertson agreed with the American defence secretary's criticisms, though in softer words.
"I think secretary Cohen was right to warn us," he said. And ministers were right to listen carefully to what he said.
He added that if we get a lot of things wrong, then NATO will be irrelevant. If we don't get the right capability for the future, then NATO will not have credibility. If we don't get the right EU-NATO linkages, then of course there will be danger for the vitality of NATO as an organisation and the security of its members.

Cohen, appearing at his last NATO meeting representing the Clinton administration, stressed the American concern that the European union not duplicate NATO's extensive planning capacity.

Bureau Report