05.08.2003, 17:34
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?sid=9&aid=12290">http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?sid=9&aid=12290</a><!-- m -->
Zitat:NATO commander doubts EU readiness for Bosnia
The EU has suggested taking over the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia in 2004 (Photo: Notat)
The United States' Marine and NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General James Jones, has said that 2004 might be too early for the European Union to take over the mission in Bosnia, reports the Independent.
A peacekeeping operation in Bosnia would be the biggest EU military mission so far.
The EU offered last year to take over the military side of the mission from the NATO-led stabilisation force 'SFOR' in 2004.
Police force needed
Next year "might be too early" for the EU to take over the mission said General Jones, according to the Independent. The EU should also concentrate more on modifying its police force, he added.
"If Bosnia keeps going the way it is, sooner rather than later the only thing that is required there is police - tough police - but if you can get the rule of law ... the military equation will be replaced by a police equation", General Jones argued.
The US is increasingly seeing the region as important for counter-terrorism operations and is now less keen to pull out of the Balkans than it has been.
General Jones's comments are likely to create anger in Brussels. However it is not the first time NATO officials have expressed doubts about EU readiness to take over the mission.
The EU already has small military missions in Macedonia and Congo.