Washington and London have spoken out against plans for closer defence ties announced by four European Union countries which opposed the war in Iraq
Published:
30 April 2003 y., Wednesday
The leaders of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg ended a mini-summit in Brussels by announcing plans for the creation of a joint military planning system by next year, and a multinational headquarters for European military operations in which Nato is not involved.
The four countries - all members of Nato - also intend to set up their own rapid reaction force. They also want to launch a European Security and Defence Union, which others would be encouraged to join.
Hopes that Europe was ready to move closer to a common defence and foreign policy have been left in tatters by the Iraq war, which split the EU into pro- and anti-war camps.
The mini-summit has been criticised for worsening the rift - and critics pointed out that it had excluded the EU's biggest military power, the UK.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US saw no need for the proposed new EU military command. He also played down the significance of the summit agreement on defence.
Šaltinis:
BBC News
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis congratulated Lithuanians living abroad on the twentieth anniversary of the re-establishment of Lithuania’s Independence.
more »
The benchmark study “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2010/11” by the fDi Magazine, assessed 223 cities and 142 regions in Europe and ranked Lithuania’s capital city Vilnius the 2nd Best Large European City for Cost Effectiveness, with Riga (Latvia) standing on the very top and Lviv (Ukraine) ranking third.
more »
The Government has invited different experts, academic representatives, business pundits, analysts of political and economic developments to join the State Progress Council which is to mobilize the community in mapping Lithuania’s route into the near future and building its vision “Lithuania 2030”.
more »
On 3 March in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė met with the delegation of the Committee for European Affairs of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, headed by Vice-Chairman of the Committee Petr Krill.
more »
Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs invites foreign citizens, who take interest in the Lithuanian history, culture and current politics, to check their knowledge by taking the quiz Believe in Freedom.
more »
As of today, the Lithuanian Development Agency (LDA) has been restructured into two public organizations – INVEST LITHUANIA (IL) and ENTERPRISE LITHUANIA (EL).
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė has signed three laws passed by the Seimas for 2010: the law on state and municipal budgets, the law on social security budget, and the temporary law on recalculation of social payments.
more »
On 8 December in Bonn, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek received the prestigious North Rhine-Westphalia annual award the “Staatspreis” for the significant role of the EP in an enlarged Europe and the strengthening of democracy in the European Union.
more »
In the meeting with the President of the European Council H. Van Rompuy, President of the Republic of Lithuania D. Grybauskaitė underlined that Lithuania would ask the European Union to envisage funds in its new financial perspective for the post-closure maintenance of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and for the construction of electricity connections with Western Europe.
more »
On 8 December in Brussels, Lithuania‘s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas took part in a meeting between heads of diplomacy from 27 European Union member states and six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine).
more »