Angered Over Talk of Euro Successor to IFOR
BIRMINGHAM, England, May 7 (Reuters) — France and Germany publicly rebuked the EU's External Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek on Tuesday for suggesting European countries take over in Bosnia when the current peace mission expires next December. French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette described Van den Broek's remarks as "irresponsible." "It was irresponsible for people to talk of IFOR (NATO's Implementation Force) being replaced by the WEU," de Charette told reporters after a meeting of the Western European Union (WEU), the EU's designated defense arm.Van den Broek infuriated the NATO allies last week by breaking an unwritten agreement among them not to discuss what happens in Bosnia after NATO's one-year mandate to police the Dayton peace accords runs out at the end of the year. "Everyone should stick to his job... then the cows will take care of themselves," de Charette said, quoting a French proverb meaning people should not meddle in matters that do not concern them.
German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said he had telephoned Van den Broek, a former Dutch foreign minister, after hearing reports of his talks to remind him of the European stand. "I made clear to him that we have this decision... that we went in together and we come out together," Kinkel told reporters, clearly irked by reports of the breach in the common stand.
A senior British diplomat declined to criticise Van den Broek by name, but tacitly supported France's public dressing-down of the Brussels commissioner. "I don't think anybody here would dissent from that view," he said of De Charette's outburst.
Van den Broek, who returned from Washington last week, was reported to have discussed with U.S. officials the possibility of a European force taking over next year and expressed support for it. "Everybody seems to accept there is a risk of a political and military void after IFOR's departure and Europe must therefore be ready to assume particular responsibilty," a spokesman for the EU commission told reporters on Friday. He added that Van den Broek had found "widespread support" for this view in Washington.
Van den Broek was one of several European politicians severely criticised for failing to prevent the worst conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two which followed from the break-up of former Yugoslavia. Since U.S. diplomacy and military might ended the war, many Europeans have argued the EU must now make amends for past failures and play more of a role in the region.
Britain and France, with thousands of troops deployed in the region, are determined however to keep the United States engaged in the area to prevent the type of disputes that undermined the previous U.N. mission in which Washington did not have ground troops.
De Charette stressed the European position on any follow-up force to the 60,000-strong IFOR, NATO biggest-ever military operation, remained unchanged. "It is the position of the European countries that we arrived together (with the United States) and we will leave together... there will be no exceptions to this rule," he added.
NATO countries maintain all parties to the Dayton peace accords that ended the 3½-year war must realize they only have a limited "window of opportunity" to make it work and avoid a return to conflict.
May 4 · EU Chief Wants Post-NATO Military Force in Bosnia
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved
