The lines between France and NATO are clearly going to shift. After Nicolas Sarkozy's announcement of upcoming changes in this very sensitive issue at the ambassadors' conference two weeks ago, the minister of defence drove the point home yesterday in Toulouse before the fifth summer conference on defence. Herve Morin called for a ''change in France's political behaviour within NATO'': a condition that is required for achieving progress in European defence. ''We are too often the ones who quibble and shilly-shally; as though we wanted to give the impression that we wanted to prevent NATO from changing,'' hammered the minister of defence.
The current observation is that of a France that is one of ''NATO's best pupils'' - both in terms of its budget contribution of approximately 11 per cent and in terms of its manpower contribution to operations - and which does not ''get all of the benefits'' out of this, ''notably in terms of influence and command positions.'' In short, it loses at every level. ''We are in the process of deliberating on the best way to link European defence policy and NATO, which requires that we think about our commitments inside the organization, by weighing the pros and the cons.
Herve Morin gave a broad outline of these ''pros and cons.'' The ''pros'': this would mean more responsibilities, greater capacity to ''usefully direct change in NATO'' and influence the organization's military operations in which France is engaged. The ''cons'': if we are not careful, there could be ''a cost in terms of officers and non-commissioned officers as well as budget,'' the temptation to ''rely on NATO for our defence, as some of our European neighbours do,'' with an accompanying loss of sovereignty. The other risk is a ''weakening of France's international position,'' which would then appear to be ''aligned.''
Consequently, everything must be ''measured'' and weighed but there is a clear direction to follow. ''It is my feeling that we will never make European defence progress if we do not clarify our position in NATO,'' the minister concluded. In passing, he let seep through his scepticism about the current reality of this European defence: a defence that is often made of piecemeal and more symbolic than effective initiatives; a security system ''that does not yet exist....''