EU Meeting to Discuss Joint Security and Defense

The Aegean Sea might conjure up images of lazy days in the sun, but EU foreign ministers are expected to clash when they get together on Rhodes on Friday for two days of talks. The main bone of contention will be recent proposals from France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to breath life into the joint EU security and defense policy.

"The process of working together will force them to try to reconcile their views, instead of letting the fissures widen into ravines, as they did on Iraq," analyst Helen Grabbe of the London-based Center for European Reform told Reuters.

The 25 heads of state -- including the leaders of the ten countries pegged to join the union next year -- will discuss suggestions from a controversial "mini-summit" earlier this week in Brussels by the four EU countries that most vehemently opposed the war against Iraq.

The leaders of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg proposed creating an independent EU military headquarters to oversee the European rapid reaction force, as well as improving and intensifying European military cooperation.

After taking flack for their exclusive meeting, the four emphasized that other EU members were welcome to be part of the new European Defense and Security Union, particularly with an eye to Britain, the strongest military might in the alliance of states.

But Britain and the United States have already warned against creating a European military bloc that would compete with NATO, despite assurances from the Brussels four that their aim is to strengthen the European contribution to the North Atlantic military alliance.

Rebuilding Iraq

The politicians will also turn their attention to Iraq, the source of massive discord within the alliance in past months. The main issue will be reaching agreement on how the union can be part of rebuilding Iraq. Although the heads of state made some headway during the summit on EU expansion some two weeks ago -- concurring that the United Nations should quickly begin to play the central role in Iraq -- they are still a long way off from actually settling their differences.

The EU is sure to play second fiddle to the United States both in Iraq and in the Middle East peace process -- also on the agenda. But the Europeans are anxious to have their say, and the more European leaders can sculpt joint positions on important issues, the smoother things will go on June 25, when the EU-U.S. summit takes place. The meeting in Rhodes will start setting the stage.