THE EU Commissioner for External Affairs, Mr Hans van den Broek, has called for Europe to be ready to take over responsibility for peace implementation in Bosnia.
The mandate for the Nato led Implementation Force (Ifor) runs out at the end of this year and US troops are scheduled to be withdrawn at that stage.
The Commissioner, whose spokesman made clear Mr van den Broek was speaking in a personal capacity, raised the proposal with the US administration during talks in Washington over the last few days.
The US administration, faced with presidential elections this year, has maintained resolutely that it will end its unpopular involvement in Bosnia at the end of the year, although it acknowledges the need for continued peace enforcement if the Dayton accord is to survive.
Mr van den Broek's spokesman would not be drawn on which European organisation would give political direction to such an operation. He spoke of the use of troops under Western European Union (WEU) authority in a Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF) relationship with Nato. By this means Nato assets could be put at the disposal of the WEU without creating an entirely new and parallel European army.
The possibility of the EU using the WEU to carry out operations on its behalf is being considered in the Union's Inter Governmental Conference, due to complete its work in the middle of next year. By raising the issue of a European security role in the context, of a very real dilemma in Bosnia early next year, Mr van den Broek will be seen as setting off a number of controversial hares.
Britain, for one, is likely to vigorously oppose any suggestion of a military role for the EU. The peace enforcing character of the Bosnian mission may also raise problems for Ireland.
Mr van den Broek's ambiguity over the precise role of the EU will, however, allow room for a discreet retreat while ensuring the problem is discussed.
The Commissioner also made clear to the US that he believed that Nato enlargement should be delayed until after the next round of EU enlargement, to allay Russian fears. But the accession of Poland and Hungary, among others, to the EU is unlikely before the early years of the next century and suggestions that Nato should hold back until then will hardly be welcome in Washington."
