Word: nato
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...however, France appears ready to return to the NATO fold. On Tuesday, President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a 15-year military plan that aims to deepen France's involvement with its NATO and European allies in the fight against post-9/11 threats. And critically, he indicated that France will soon rejoin NATO's military command, even if its nuclear forces would remain under strictly national control. "We can renew our relations with NATO without fearing for our independence and without the risk of being unwillingly dragged into a war," Sarkozy said...
...While France is a member of the 26-member NATO alliance, and takes part in all political decision-making bodies, it is not part of the integrated command structure. A return to NATO command would involve the appointment of French generals to NATO military headquarters and to the alliance's defense planning committee...
...France has been creeping back toward NATO for more than a decade. Under President Jacques Chirac, Paris rejoined NATO's military committee of chiefs of staff in 1996, but the rapprochement was cut short after the U.S. refused to share more power with European countries in the integrated military structure...
...French step toward NATO would have be in line with the European Union's efforts to build up its own fledgling security and defense capacity, Heisbourg said. If France - the fifth largest contributor to NATO - becomes a more co-operative transatlantic ally, it is likely to find stronger backing for E.U. defense projects among NATO's European members. "If and when it happens, it would reflect the strides that had been taken in European security and defense policy," he says, adding that further steps on that policy are anticipated during the French presidency of the E.U., from July to December...
...military than it is for French public opinion," said Daniel Korski, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He said the powerful idea of France's military independence, enshrined in De Gaulle's walk-out, was belied by the depth of cooperation between Paris and NATO that had developed since the 1990s...