Paris : The Winners And Losers
Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), the development of which, has been
seen as a contentious issue as far as NATO is concerned.
NATO already consists of 22 EU member states together with four non
members states, Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Albania but many well known
commentators and academics believe NATO to be nothing more than an
American interventionist force, as Prof. Noam Chomsky explains;
“The official justification for NATO was that its purpose was to
defend Western Europe from Russian hordes who might attack Western
Europe. Can’t ask how plausible that explanation was, but that at least
that was the official explanation. Well, no Russian hordes. Natural
conclusion – ok, let’s disband NATO. The opposite happens – NATO
expanded. Its mission changed. The official mission of NATO became to
control the international global energy system, pipelines. That means,
to control the world. Of course, its a U.S.-run intervention force.”
The idea that the EU should become free of American influence over NATO came with the formation of the EU Battlegroup that
is part of the CSDP. Specific EU Battlegroups began at the European
Council summit on 10–11 December 1999 in Helsinki. The Council produced
the Headline Goal 2003 and specified the need for a rapid response
capability that members should provide in small forces at high
readiness. That 2003 goal had to be shifted to 2010.
