Uncle Rasmussen's Three Pieces of Advice to Lady Asthon
(BRUSSELS2) “How to improve relations between the EU and NATO is very simple said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during the press conference following the meeting between ambassadors of the member states of the two organizations (COPS for the EU, NAC for NATO).
"Let's speak frankly. The EU should evolve to adapt to NATO allies who are not part of the EU: 1° the EU must involve the
non-EU contributors to the operations process, as NATO already does with ISAF; 2° the EU must conclude a security agreement with Turkey; 3° It must conclude an agreement to associate Turkey with the arms defense agencys” (1). As for NATO, continued the Secretary General, " she must accept that Cyprus is a country that must be seated at the table ».
What did the High Representative of the EU add? Nothing ! The photo speaks for itself. This is not the first time that the Secretary General of NATO has developed this argument. And we can not therefore blame him for his lack of consistency. The last time was at the informal Palma de Mallorca (Read: Rasmussen squats the EU meeting and settles the Turkish-Cypriot problem). Today was simply more direct and more brutal: the EU must do...
All the same, those who have chosen to entrust this Dane with the responsibility of Secretary General of NATO will have to invite him to stop behaving like a lesson giver with regard to a political and legal entity which does not has no lesson to take from a politico-military alliance with which it intends to build a strong strategic partnership, by reminding it in passing that its own country is still the beneficiary of an opt out within the European Union for CSDP issues … and the euro, which does not make it a reference of first choice in such matters!