France rebuffs US proposals for more global NATO

Berlin, Nov 7: France warned today against US proposals that NATO should become a more global grouping, saying such a change could only weaken the alliance.

In an essay published in German daily Die Welt three weeks before NATO is due to hold a summit in Latvia, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie rebuffed calls for an ambitious overhaul of the Brussels-based alliance.

''I believe it is desirable to improve the practical ways missions are handled without changing the fundamental nature of NATO which must remain a Euro-Atlantic alliance,'' Alliot-Marie said in remarks that appeared in German.

She said transforming NATO into a ''global partnership'' risked damaging the solidarity between Europe and the United States and making the alliance an ill-defined body that would alienate non-members.

In a speech in Brussels last week, US NATO ambassador Victoria Nuland signalled a desire to transform the 26-nation alliance into a global security organisation.

France is among the most sceptical of US calls for NATO to take a greater role in dealing with problems outside its home area and to shoulder more non-military tasks, as it did in last year's earthquake in Pakistan.

''To turn NATO into an organisation with responsibilities for economic and democratic reconstruction runs counter to its mission and its resources,'' said Alliot-Marie, who is seen as close to French President Jacques Chirac.

''We must ensure the alliance is not watered down through fuzzy new responsibilities,'' she added.

France has been a prickly, semi-detached member of NATO since General Charles de Gaulle pulled French forces out of allied military command in 1966.

Diplomats say Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain also have reservations about ''rebranding'' NATO as a world policeman.

REUTERS