A proposal has earlier been tabled by the UK and France at the first EU FM and DM assembly held last week for an EU mobile force to be organized. A fact to be noted is that soon after the proposal was put forward it had evoked a general response, calling for an EU Political, Security and Military Affairs Committee to be put in direction.

This represents the rising demand being voiced by EU member countries for a strengthening of their defense and their capabilities for military intervention, a demand that is now at a time of being expected to be translated into practice.

Two years ago, EU signed the Amsterdam Treaty specifying its long-term goal as one of formulating a joint foreign and defense policy. But when a look is to be had into all practices undertaken "there are already too many empty words said instead of having enough practical work done". From problems learned during the Kosovo war EU leaders all feel the necessity for an intensive effort to change this situation. They have come to realize that by their armaments and intervention capabilities and the abilities to cope with crisis Europe has lagged far behind the US. A hard fact is that by their command system they can in no way meet the demand for a long-term endeavor of intervention or fighting over a long period of war. Though EU has a force of over 2 million strong it has a mere 2%-3% of these that can be employed to undertake a "peace keeping" task as that of having had a hand in the Kosovo war. Illustrative is a pre-set number of 50,000 EU force that had been in place only five months later. A weak military force will risk not only the international status of Europe but all the more the security setup of European safety and the course of founding an integrated Europe. NATO Secretary-general George Robertson pointed out not long ago, "Without military capabilities Europe can only a paper tiger".

From representations of EU leaders one can see that a raise of EU military capability lies in a full use of its military facilities to throw EU's weight about at times when the US is not willing to or are not in a position to directly have a hand in. This is to say EU military operations will be carried out within the groundwork of NATO. According to NATO Secretary-general Robertson, the problem facing EU is not one the US has been involved too much but a one Europe has done little.

But things have not been so simple as Robertson has thought, according to an analytic view generally held among the EU countries. This is because an integrated security defense policy concerns the sovereignty of related countries and Europe-US relations. Since old contradictions have not been solved new ones will inevitably arise. Take for example a general increase of EU defense spending, some EU countries do not want to and others may rule out the possibility for an increase in their defense spending. Since no enough money is in place there will be no military might of armament or defense force to speak of. Typical of this is also another example in case: EU has decided on turning Western European Union it into an "arm of defense" of Europe. But Austria, Finland, Sweden and Ireland as four small neutral nations take an opposite stand. Meanwhile, there are also some small EU nations like those of Northern Europe, though they agree on setting up a mobile force in principle, they all extend close concern over how such a force is to be directed. They fear it may be used as a handy tool in the hands of a few big powers.

Apart from the various considerations said above, a top concern among the EU countries is one concerning trans-Atlantic ties. An overstress on a large European military setup independent of the US may give rise to the misgivings that Europe merely looks after itself without the US. This is to say prior to a strengthening of independent EU defense force or a rise of the capabilities for military intervention may underline a weakening of EU as a deterrent force due to an estrangement of EU from NATO headed by the US. These are two tricky problems over which EU leaders have to rack their brains. As things now stand in the EU countries, there is still a long way to go for EU to have an efficient de facto independent defense and military intervention system to be established to make EU a "genuine tiger". (By Ding Gang)