17
I think they're right to be concerned about that, is the fact that Europe will need to make a great
proportionate contribution to the communal defense of Europe. But I think that is a contribution
that will have to be channeled through NATO, and there's no difference whatsoever between the
United States and Britain on that point.”
98
On the weekend of April 28-29, EU Foreign Ministers met to make progress on political
union, but were deadlocked by a growing disagreement over the proposal for the EU to include a
defense pact.
99
French Foreign Minister Dumas told the press that “aside from the neutral Irish
Republic, the community was split 8-3 over future defense. The dissenters are Britain, The
Netherlands and Portugal.”
100
The British began to feel that a showdown with France was
becoming inevitable. According to a senior official in the Foreign office, London and Paris
“simply cannot see eye-to-eye on this.”
101
The French proposal included “extending majority
voting into foreign and defense questions inside the EU, the single proposal most opposed by
London.”
102
On May 10, 1991, Baker and German Foreign Minister Genscher met in Washington and
announced an influential joint statement. The goal of this joint statement was to present a united
American-German front in the upcoming NATO Ministerial in Copenhagen and the CSCE
Ministerial in Berlin. It was a shrewd diplomatic move to secure Bonn’s support and thus
increase pressure on Paris to compromise with the other great powers. Baker restated America’s
support for an ESDI and Genscher supported that such initiatives should take place within the
NATO system. As reported by the Department of State:
In their meeting today, Secretary Baker affirmed that the United States
is ready to support arrangements the European Allies decide are
needed for the expression of a common European foreign, security,
and defense policy. Minister Genscher affirmed that the Atlantic
Alliance as a whole should be enhanced by strengthening the role of
giving added responsibility to the Europeans in the context of security
and defense policy, and that in that respect a European security and
defense identity should be reflected in the development of a European
pillar within the Alliance.
103
The joint statement’s key point was a declaration of NATO’s relationship with other
European security institutions. “NATO should be the principal venue for consultation and the
forum for agreement on all policies bearing on the security and defense commitment of its
98
White House Briefing, “Joint News Conference by President George Bush and British Prime Minister John
Major, Bermuda,” Federal News Service, (March 16, 1991).
99
“Britain Rejects Defense Pact,” Daily Telegraph, (April 29, 1991): 1.
100
George Brock, “Britain and France Head for Defense Showdown,” Times (London), (April 29, 1991).
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
103
“US-German Views on the New European and Trans-Atlantic Architecture,” Department of State Dispatch,
(May 13, 1991).
Convention