Nato chief scorns Europe forces, Robertson says 150bn euro budget largely wasted on troops and equipment unable to be deployed quickly

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Ian Black in Brussels Saturday November 9, 2002 The Guardian

Europe's 150 billion euro (£96bn) annual defence bill was yesterday condemned as "a waste of money" by Nato's George Robertson, highlighting concern about the yawning transatlantic gap in military spending.

Two weeks before the alliance's summit in Prague - its first in five years - Nato's British secretary-general said taxes in EU countries were being squandered on troops and equipment unable to be deployed quickly and efficiently.

"There are two million troops in uniform in Europe, half a million more than the Americans, but only a fraction are deployable," Lord Robertson told a Brussels seminar. "That is a waste of money."

Similar problems were apparent when comparing other capabilities: half of all US combat planes could fly at night but only 10% in Europe. The US had 250 large transport planes to deploy troops, while Europe had just 11.

"We must make sure that Europe's 150bn euro defence budgets develop properly," he said. "It must be €150bn worth of capability and 150bn euro worth of political influence. We must give value for money. In that respect the public is getting a pretty bad bargain."

Strategic inbalance between Europe and an overwhelmingly powerful America has become a hot political issue since the September 11 attacks on the US and the growth in US defence spending, raised by a staggering $46bn (£60bn) earlier this year.

EU governments are struggling against the growing perception that US "warriors" and European "wimps" inhabit different planets; that Americans fight and Europeans "do the dishes" afterwards.

European inadequacies have been shown up by reliance on US forces in the Balkans and the hi-tech firepower used by the Americans in Afghanistan.

Britain and France, the leading EU military powers, have responded with increases in defence spending but the gulf is still enormous. Washington is expected to spend $355bn this year compared to about $160bn by Nato's 17 European members.

In parallel, EU defence efforts are moving agonisingly slowly and now beset by disagreements between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, who jointly pioneered the concept four years ago.

The Prague summit is likely to announce new capabilities including long-range transport aircraft, air tankers, better surveillance, precision guided weapons and modern communications.

Last year Lord Robertson ruffled feathers when he sneered at Europe as a "military pygmy". Now his goal is to galvanise the alliance's 19 members to increase "burden sharing" with the US.

Prague will also see Nato's biggest ever expansion - completing its transformation into a post cold war alliance - by taking in seven new members, all former communist countries, to add to the three ex-members of the Warsaw Pact which entered in 1999.

Anxious to underline Nato's continuing relevance, Lord Robertson described the summit as marking a "dramatic overhaul" of the transatlantic relationship to ensure that common threats can be met "with the most effective, modern and relevant forces".

Controversially, it will also approve plans to create a new Nato "rapid response force" to fight terrorism, raising questions about pre-emptive action and whether it will operate at US behest far from the alliance's traditional European theatre of operations.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2002


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