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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (9844)	3/24/2004 4:02:53 AM
From: ChinuSFO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Bush has disregarded Europe and many other world nations. Kerry needs to read this article and use it as a guide for his campaign when it comes to foreign policy. MARCH 24, 2004 Stronger EU will not threaten but help America By NOELLE LENOIR THE Madrid bombings have made Europeans feel the scourge of terrorism in their bones. March 11 is now Europe's version of Sept 11 in the United States. Yet the US and Europe often do not seem to see the world through the same glasses: Spain's response to the terrorist attacks - a threat common to all democracies - was to vote in a government promising an end to the pro-US policy on Iraq. Does this mean Europe and the US have dramatically different visions? Part of the seeming disconnect on foreign policy emerges from a misunderstanding about what 'Europe' is about. The European project is a realist's response to globalisation and its challenges. It was initiated to create solidarites de fait, promote political stability, and consolidate democracy and Europe's social model. Having achieved these goals, Europe now wants to make a positive contribution to world developments. This is not nostalgia for past glory. An unprecedented degree of solidarity now exists across Europe, as was apparent in the collective mourning and outpouring of sympathy towards Spain; we must build on that huge potential to create a logic of solidarity in the world. The US, also victim of a horrendous attack, feels drawn to the world, but not to promote a similar model of cooperation. Rather, in defending their values and security, Americans strive to defend the world, especially the Western world, from dark new threats. The messianic idealism that liberated Europe from Nazism and protected Western Europe from communism is now directed at other enemies. With all the attention devoted to strained transatlantic relations, it is easy to overlook how often our preoccupations overlap. On issues such as terrorism, weapons proliferation, Iran, Afghanistan (where we jointly train the country's future army), and Africa (where French initiatives with American support recently succeeded in stabilising Cote d'Ivoire and Congo), decades. We must forge greater European military capacities, simply to put in place a mechanism that allows us to stand effectively shoulder to shoulder when terrorism or other catastrophes strike one of our democracies, as just happened. But we must also establish an autonomous European military planning capacity, because the EU might need to lead its own operations, perhaps because Nato is unwilling to. We French are opposed to building a 'two-speed' Europe. But we want structured cooperation - meaning that some European states may press ahead in defence capacity - because we are not prepared to let the more cautious and hesitant dictate a recurrence of the Balkan tragedy of the 1990s, when Europeans couldn't act and Americans wouldn't (for a while). The creation of such a capacity will make the EU a more effective transatlantic partner. So it is hard for Europeans to understand why plans for closer European integration should be seen as anti-American. The only way to arrest such fears is through closer and more frequent dialogue. On defence and security matters, the EU's security doctrine provides a great opportunity to build on our common worries: terrorism and non-proliferation, but also the need to ensure sustainable development in all quarters of the world. Europe and the US must pursue their aims in cooperation, while ensuring that such cooperation never becomes an alliance of the 'West against the Rest'. Some in the West have tried to conjure a 'Clash of Civilisations' out of our troubled times. Our task is to find a way to stand together without standing against anybody in particular. The writer is France's Minister for Europe. She is a former member of the Constitutional Court, France's highest court, and has taught law at Yale University and the University of London. straitstimes.asia1.com.sg