EU foreign policy failed
The Lebanon-Israel crisis has exposed weaknesses in the European Union’s foreign policy efforts. These words come from France’s president Jacques Chirac at a meeting of French diplomats. The EU was once again divided over how to respond, with the UK backing the US position as usual. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, can only act when he has the backing of all member states. EU nations, including France, were at first hesitant to send troops to Lebanon for peacekeeping due to a weak UN mandate. Europe has now pledged around 7000 troops, with France taking the lead and later Italy.
“In a few short days we saw Lebanon laid to waste, its people battered, 15 years of [diplomatic] effort laid to waste,” Mr Chirac said on Monday, after the EU last week reached agreement on contributing between 7,000 and 9,000 troops to a new UN peacekeeping force in the region.
The EU’s efforts to agree on troop numbers also cast the bloc’s foreign policy in a murky light. Many EU states, including France, initially hesitated to commit ground troops, with France eventually agreeing to lead the EU contingent for a while before Italy takes over.
A handful of EU soldiers has already arrived in Lebanon to begin reconstruction efforts, but the first major wave of 3,000 to 4,000 international troops is set to land next week to help enforce a fragile ceasefire with Israeli hostages still in the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas militants.
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Administrator @ August 29, 2006