Germany wants talks on NATO missile shield

WIESBADEN, Germany, March 2 (Reuters) Germany stepped up calls today for NATO talks on creating a missile defence shield for Europe, a day after the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval.

The head of the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency said yesterday Washington was not seeking a green light from NATO's other 25 members for a missile shield in eastern Europe, and voiced interest in basing radar sites in the Caucasus.

The United States' European allies are concerned the plan will damage their ties with Moscow, and Germany has led calls for wider consultations on the project.

''We should discuss developing such a measure within a NATO framework,'' German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters on the margins of a meeting of EU defence chiefs in the German city of Wiesbaden.

Jung said Russian concerns over the shield could be allayed by talks within NATO's existing NATO-Russia Council, a forum for discussing strategic and defence issues between the former Cold War foes.

''I think that is the right way forward,'' he said. Jung did not say whether Germany was for or against such a shield.

The United States wants to set up a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland as part of a shield that would counter missiles fired by what Washington calls ''rogue states'' such as Iran and North Korea.

Moscow sees the system as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power.

Other European states have been reluctant to pronounce on whether they think Europe needs such a missile shield.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday the level of threat to European territory was ''questionable'' and it was up to individual countries to decide what they wanted to do.

REUTERS SP KP1555