Posted on 06/10/2005 7:54:31 PM PDT by nwrep
PARIS When Michèle Alliot-Marie was named France's defense minister three years ago, she was so surprised and unprepared that she had to ask her partner to teach her to march. He taught her in their living room.
Since then, marching has become second nature to Alliot-Marie, and she has become one of Europe's most vocal defenders of an independent defense arm for the European Union.
On Wednesday, Alliot-Marie, 58, took her message to an international symposium here on the future of European defense. Her message: Europeans need to increase military spending by billions of euros a year to be competitive with the United States in weapons technology.
How Europeans will receive that message is far from certain, given the crisis set off by French and Dutch rejection of the European constitution. But in the general gloom about the future of the EU, Alliot-Marie says that building up the defense arm is one way of pursuing the wounded ambition of political union.
"Defense is the area where Europe has progressed the most in the last three years," she said in an interview. "At a time when a no to the constitution in two countries raises questions inside and outside of Europe, defense is a pole of stability and consensus, even among many who have said no."
Indeed, since the French and Dutch no-votes and despite the controversy enveloping Europe, the EU has agreed to provide more police training in Congo and is preparing to help NATO back African troops in Darfur. But this is far from enough, according to Alliot-Marie.
"We are currently at the same technological level as the United States - if we want to stay there, we have to do a lot more," Alliot-Marie said. "That is the price for being not just an economic power, but a political power."
A loyal ally of President Jacques Chirac, whom she has known for almost 40 years, Alliot-Marie considers Europe to be a multiplier of French influence, and she is convinced that a stronger military is essential to maintaining credibility on the world stage.
"If we want Europe to carry its values of humanity and democracy into the world, we need to not just talk but also act - armed if necessary," she said.
The European Union spends less than a fifth of what the Pentagon invests in weapons-related research, and about 40 percent of the U.S. budget for military equipment, according to a report commissioned by Alliot-Marie for the symposium.
Military spending in the EU stands at an annual 1.5 percent of the bloc's combined gross domestic product, compared with 3 percent in the United States. To be on a par with the United States would require the Union to reach 2 percent of GDP, an increase of about €35 billion, or $43 billion, a year, the report by the Defense Economy Council said.
Alliot-Marie has plenty of experience with increasing military budgets. People say she managed to win over France's most masculine institutions with a mix of courage and charm. But her main lever was cash. She benefited from an election pledge by Chirac to reverse the funding cuts the military suffered under the previous Socialist administration, and she was able to provide about €2 billion more per year for the 2003-2008 procurement period. When Nicolas Sarkozy, then finance minister, tried to reduce her allocation in last summer's budget negotiations, she fought hard to keep it - and won.
"She has stood up for us and defended our interests," and she has guts, one senior military officer said. "Soldiers relate to that."
Today, two forceful men lead the French government. With Dominique de Villepin now prime minister and Sarkozy installed as his deputy, at the Interior Ministry, a power struggle between the two presidential rivals looks potentially explosive. Alliot-Marie ranks third in the cabinet. Should both acts of the double billing falter ahead of the 2007 presidential election, Alliot-Marie's advisers say, she will be ready.
Near bankrupt, socialist EU countries to spend more on defense? Doubt it.
Do you have a "link" to the source article???
We drove the commies bankrupt. We can do the same to the French. It couldn't happen to nicer people.
I'm all in favor of this. Now we can reduce our own military commitment to Europe.
Just leave a skeleton crew in Germany to block the assension of the next Fuhrer.
raise military outlays to achieve parity with US
LOL! They had best first raise spending to achieve parity with our boy scouts!
LOL!!
Sheesh...the French still don't get it?
40% of the men long to have babies. Women are trying to get them to be more warlike. Man oh man.
As I once heard it said, It is a strange place, where they fight with their feet and f*ck with their face...
Ho, ho... I guess she already knew how to run.
LOL. If the Frenchmen are turning into flaming faggots, I wonder who it is that this woman could draft to fight for France?
If Dubya ever said anything like that about the U.S., he'd be called a cowboy! :^)
We don't have to.
The EU welfare states are already teetering because of unfunded social programs. They flat out don't have the money, even if they had the will, to beef up the military. Which they do not.
Further, of what value is military capability of any size when under the control of, well, panzies. For lack of a better word.
Great - thanks very much!!
Hahahahah! Unbelievable!
Q: How many EU-French troops does it take to defend Paris?
A: No one knows, it's never been done before!
Q: What's the EU-French word for conflict resolution?
A: Surrender
I don't think she means parity as a percentage of GDP. I believe she wants to spend about 400 billion a year on Eurinal defense. The bribes, kickbacks, payoffs, skims and scams available on a 400 billion base certainly would get Chirac's approval and that of the other Eurinal bureaucrat thieves.
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