[R-G] France's return to NATO seals deep policy change

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE52A51820090311

France's return to NATO seals deep policy change
Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:42pm EDT

By Sophie Hardach - Analysis

PARIS (Reuters) - France's return to NATO's inner circle means a boost  
for the alliance, a historic shift in relations with the United States  
and, potentially, a chance for European firms to win more arms deals.

The nuclear power, NATO's fourth largest contributor of troops,  
announced on Wednesday it wanted to return after a 43-year absence to  
the alliance's integrated military command, which plans, trains and  
conducts joint operations.

For NATO, caught between a complex war in Afghanistan -- which  
Washington admitted this week it was not winning -- and an identity  
crisis brought on by the end of the Cold War, the French gesture is a  
well-timed gift.

Fears of U.S. hegemony in Europe prompted then-President Charles de  
Gaulle to pull out of NATO's command in 1966. But four decades on,  
President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided that if France wants to play a  
role in shaping the future of global security, it is better off inside  
than out.

"It's a hugely important move," said Karl-Heinz Kamp, head of a  
research division at the NATO Defense College in Rome. "It shows a  
fundamental change in France's security policy. France says: 'We can  
represent our interests better when we're inside than when we're in  
this strange half-in, half-out position.'"

The NATO command posts France has reportedly secured in the structure  
are not seen as particularly significant by security experts, but  
Sarkozy is expecting broader benefits.

JOINING THE FOLD

For years, France liked to see itself as a foreign policy maverick,  
striking alliances with whoever might further its political and  
business ambitions. Now it sees a full return to NATO as compatible  
with those interests.

Joining NATO's Defense Planning Committee makes sense for the fourth- 
largest provider of troops to the alliance's missions after the United  
States, Britain and Germany.

European arms groups, such as EADS, hope that greater weight in NATO  
will help them in their bids for contracts as well as letting them  
take part in developing new weapons systems.

France also aims at closer cooperation with the United States and  
President Barack Obama's new administration, burying a rift over the  
U.S. invasion of Iraq, while retaining its nuclear independence and  
the ability to criticize missions -- after all, NATO member Germany  
also opposed the war in Iraq.

France will still remain outside NATO's nuclear planning group,  
although experts say NATO would like to see Europe's second nuclear- 
armed power contribute new ideas.

The alliance will also welcome France's battlefield expertise and  
enjoy a much-needed boost to its credibility.

Yet to some critics, that closeness to NATO will come at a price.  
France argues that its full return will strengthen the U.S.-European  
dialogue. But some believe such a dialogue cannot take place  
effectively within NATO.

"NATO is an unbalanced organization by design," said Nick Witney,  
senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and  
former head of the European Defense Agency.

"It was built to be U.S.-led and U.S.-dominated, and that does not  
conduce to a readiness to confront the fundamental issues," he told  
Reuters, citing the war in Afghanistan.

He said NATO provided a convenient way for Europeans to follow the  
U.S. lead and duck questions over their own role in global security,  
avoiding a military responsibility that is unpopular with voters.

Witney said a frank transatlantic discussion over security was more  
likely to take place between the United States and the European Union,  
and not within NATO.

PARLEZ-VOUS ANGLAIS?

Others worry that France is pouring resources into NATO that would  
find better use in joint European Defense projects -- sources said it  
is scrambling to find 800 suitable officers with the required English  
skills to fill its new NATO posts.

France argues that its move will strengthen European Defense. But  
there has been little evidence of tangible benefits from France's  
negotiations with NATO over reintegration, such as a European Defense  
headquarters or more troops for the EU's own battlegroups.

Its other ambition is to shape the future of NATO. The Allied Command  
Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, which it is expected to head, is  
officially at the center of the reshaping of NATO, through security  
sources describe it as more of a talking shop with little clout.

Given Sarkozy's fondness for taking the lead, France could still  
provide some direction for NATO's attempts to reform.

NATO is trying to find a new role as a flexible, modern force  
countering multiple threats. But just what those threats are and how  
NATO could help is often not clear.

NATO officials have talked about fighting climate change and  
militants, guarding energy security and food supply, on top of more  
conventional Defense missions.

Meanwhile, NATO members such as Poland, looking uneasily toward  
Russia, want the alliance to focus on its core competencies of  
military Defense and dissuasion.

Obama is also expected to ask his European NATO allies to take more  
risks and carry more weight in Afghanistan.

After weeks of passionate debate in France, Sarkozy may feel relieved  
when the reintegration is finally achieved and the focus switches to  
the major discussions ahead.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels, editing by Mark  
Trevelyan)