Not a long ago US Vice President Joe Biden reproached the countries of the EU of unacceptable cutbacks of military spending. The EU leaders tried to justify this strategy by having own vision of the defense policy but in fact Europeans simply don’t see against whom they should get armed, experts say.
According to the 2012 NATO political report, the US accounted for 72% of NATO spending %. The authors of the report stressed that Britain, Germany, Italy and France were consistently cutting their spending on defense which doubts the capability of the European allies to act without the US’ assistance.
NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen repeatedly voices US concerns regarding this trend. Earlier this month, he came up with a new fresh example of the “destructive” consequences of the European thriftiness. He touched upon the preparation and the early stage of the French operation in Mali saying that the planes which were to deliver French troops to Mali had been collected one by one across the whole Europe. He said that without the US transportation aircraft, flying tankers and air reconnaissance it would be very hard for the French troops in Mali.
The EU’s main diplomat Catherine Ashton and Germany’s Defense Minister Tomas de Messier tried to find excuses for the whole EU. They said that the defesne and security policy of the united Europe was not rested on the direct use of military force.
In reality, when criticizing Europeans Americans are using the tactics of ruling from “behind the stage” and trying to make their allies accomplish at least relatively small military goals in the area around Europe.
Judging from the point of view of the military alliance the US reproaches look quite objective, Igor Korotchenko, chief editor of the National Defense journal, says. But Europe does not really want to get heavily armed against an abstract enemy:
"Russia’s enemy image and the deployment of the Russian armed forces in the west of the country makes it clear that we are not planning any global offensive to the West. I would describe the tactics of the European governments as a reasonable rationalism."
"The last several years saw significant cutbacks in spending of the European armies," Korotchenko says. "For example, many NATO countries have almost cancelled tanks. In the Netherlands the process of reduction armored vehicles is under way at a fantastic speed."
At the same time Europe often raises the issue of forming its won armed forces. When commenting the above mentioned 2012 NATO report in Brussels Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky said that Europe needed an efficient united army as never before.
"In terms of defense Europe feels quite comfortable under NATO’s nuclear umbrella and soon it will feel even more comfortable under the US shield," Ivan Konovalov head of the Center of Strategic Studies said. "But at the same time many European politicians find the idea of having a united European army very attractive."
"All the European parliaments regularly discus the creation of the single European military contingent. The problem is - who is going to pay for it? If France and Germany take the responsibility again it will be a very serious financial burden for them because it is clear that other countries will be ready only to provide their servicemen and equipment. That why no single European contingent will be created until the financial issue is not solved."
A lot experts believe that the US is tired of such a burden and in the near future it will try to ensure its geopolitical interests by using the military potential of its old and new allies.
Uprooted Palestinian
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