# CE2004065EN.01001801.xml

| 13.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 65/18 |
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13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 65/18

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(2004/C 65 E/019)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3608/02

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(16 December 2002)

Subject:   NATO enlargement and EU defence policy

Subject:

The summit of the 19 NATO heads of state and government, held in Prague on 21/22 November in the presence of the leaders of the 27 associate countries of the Atlantic Alliance and meeting in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, tackled two fundamental issues among others: the updating of NATO's strategic capacity and its enlargement, three years before the entry of the first three former Soviet bloc countries.

The Alliance's political and strategic profile had to be redefined as a result of the diversification of the sources of instability and insecurity (rather than the previous predominant Soviet threat) and the extension of the tasks entrusted to NATO by the 1991 and 1999 Strategic Concept, which envisaged opposition to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the fight against international terrorism and organised crime. The results achieved in Prague seem to suggest that the Alliance is still the political and military lynchpin of the new European security framework, even though the summit did not manage to resolve all the Alliance's political and institutional problems.

Can the Commission say:

| 1. | whether it still considers NATO to be an alliance in the traditional sense of the word, or as the beginning of a new and more efficient collective security system; |
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1.

whether it still considers NATO to be an alliance in the traditional sense of the word, or as the beginning of a new and more efficient collective security system;

| 2. | in what sense relations between the European Union and the United States are established and developed within it; |
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2.

in what sense relations between the European Union and the United States are established and developed within it;

| 3. | in the military context, what the position of the Union's Rapid Reaction Force will be vis-à-vis the NATO Reaction Force, since 17 of the 19 NATO countries are European; |
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3.

in the military context, what the position of the Union's Rapid Reaction Force will be vis-à-vis the NATO Reaction Force, since 17 of the 19 NATO countries are European;

| 4. | what role is played by the WEU in this context; |
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4.

what role is played by the WEU in this context;

| 5. | whether it is conceivable that the ‘enhanced cooperation’ formula may provide the required effectiveness for the member countries and ensure an autonomous defence policy? |
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5.

whether it is conceivable that the ‘enhanced cooperation’ formula may provide the required effectiveness for the member countries and ensure an autonomous defence policy?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(17 January 2003)

(17 January 2003)

The questions asked by the Honourable Member fall outside the Commission's competence and it would therefore be inappropriate for the Commission to reply.

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