UNITED NATIONS, 23 September 2003 — Newly appointed NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer vowed yesterday to use his new position to bridge US-European rifts within the alliance, calling himself a “European, but also an Atlanticist.” Hoop Scheffer, currently the Dutch foreign minister, told reporters it was imperative for European security and defense initiatives, which have raised eyebrows in the US, to complement NATO.
“European endeavors and further European integration in the field of security and defense policy should be complementary,” he told reporters here on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. “It’s on that basis, that I will try to build bridges wherever that is necessary, but I am, sure that solution will be found to this debate.”
He was referring specifically to plans by Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg to create a new European defense headquarters outside Brussels, a move opposed by the United States as well as some EU members, including Britain. Hoop Scheffer, who will take over the NATO helm from current secretary-general Lord George Robinson on Jan. 1, said he believed that European nations needed to improve their defense capabilities so they did not fall too far behind those of the US.
