There has been much debate in France about the NATO summit being held in Strasbourg and Kehl at the beginning of April. Unsurprisingly, this debate has mainly focused on the comparatively incidental matter of France’s return to NATO, while failing to recognise that this summit is significant from many other points of view, including operational aspects as well as the new European security architecture, which clearly needs updating
The Strasbourg-Kehl Summit: Much More than the Return of France
The next Atlantic Alliance summit at Strasbourg and Kehl is attracting widespread interest. It will be a historic summit, as it will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Alliance, and we in the West can never resist an excuse for a commemorative ceremony. It is a French summit for two reasons, as it will be held in mainland France for the first time in decades, but above all because it will mark the official return of France into the NATO fold; it is also a summit of renewal as, with the presence of President Obama, we enter the post-Bush era.
This summit will therefore probably assume a significance that will far outweigh the mere fact of France’s return: despite the interest aroused in France, this subsidiary matter will attract minimal attention amongst our allies, as the main event is elsewhere.
Operations
The primary function of an allied summit is to discuss operations. In the middle of the 1990s NATO evolved into an operational organisation, losing much of its deterrent role, and since then military and operational matters have supplanted other subjects. And once again, the Afghanistan question will concentrate minds.
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