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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (1543)	5/28/2001 4:33:24 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

Euro army unveils Germanic anthem BRITISH troops who take part in operations with the new European rapid reaction force (ERRF) are in for a shock. They will be marching to the beat of a Germanic-sounding anthem, writes Michael Prescott. The force is already under fire from Eurosceptics for its grand ambitions. It is to have its own headquarters, flag and insignia, and politicians on the Continent envisage it operating independently of Nato. Yesterday it emerged that the new force also has its own marching tune. It was played as troops in the existing Eurocorps, which is being transformed into the ERRF, marched through Strasbourg to celebrate Europe Day earlier this month. "Eurocorps is the army of peace," sang soldiers from the five-nation force, which will include the British military. "This peace will arrive. We are marching the Euro-march." The tune to which the words are set is accessible via the Eurocorps website under the heading "European march". A spokesman for the ERRF denied last week that it had an anthem, in contradiction to the website. He declined to explain the origins of the tune and the words on the website have been quietened, making them difficult to hear. The words were in Spanish, though they would be expected to be translated into all EU languages. The music, however, speaks volumes. "I have a CD of German military marches with the Berlin police choir and it sounds exactly like that," said Dalwyn Henshall, principal lecturer in music at Canterbury Christchurch University College in Kent. "It sounds like a mixture between John Philip Sousa and a German military march. It's exactly the sort of thing you expect for an army." For the Conservatives, the anthem is the latest evidence that supporters of the ERRF intend it to be a full-blown army. Iain Duncan Smith, the shadow defence secretary, believes federalists want to supplant Nato and end America's military presence on the Continent. "Tony Blair insists that Nato will have a veto over this new European force, but all the evidence points the other way." Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, said yesterday that he had never heard of the new anthem. It was, he said, "very unlikely" that British troops would end up marching to it. Blair and Hoon have promised to make between 18,000 and 24,000 troops available for ERRF operations, which they expect to be mainly peacekeeping duties approved by Nato. The government said early last year that the ERRF would not mean British troops wearing European insignia. Six months ago, however, the Ministry of Defence admitted that troops and vehicles on ERRF duty would go wear a logo alongside national insignia. sunday-times.co.uk