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EUROPE must be prepared to provide a large military force to carry out operations without the Americans in the future, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday.
However, at present Europe lacked the military capability to meet such a challenge, he told a conference on Nato's future at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
Referring to the plan to develop a European defence identity within Nato, under the aegis of the European Union, Lord Robertson said that, according to the Petersberg principles that listed the type of operations a solely European force could handle, the most demanding mission could require "a corps-size deployment" - a minimum of two divisions of about 50,000 troops. However, for the Kosovo operation, the European members of Nato had been "stretched" to provide a few tens of thousands of troops.
Strobe Talbott, the American Deputy Secretary of State, speaking at the same conference, warned Europe not to develop its own defence posture "as a rival to Nato".
He said that, as the European defence initiative progressed, American support would be guided by the answer to two questions - would it work and would it keep the alliance together?
However, Mr Talbott praised the Government for its active engagement in the European Union.
He said the Government under Tony Blair was at the centre of European deliberations over how to deal with threats to continental peace and transatlantic security.