Fine Gael has called on Ireland to join the NATO-led military co-operation initiative, Partnership For Peace, warning that Europe will be destabilised if other states follow its example of "splendid isolation".
Denying that PFP was a "back door to NATO", the party leader, Mr John Bruton, said yesterday that Ireland could not afford to "luxuriate in indecision" about joining the initiative.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation set up PFP in 1994 to encourage military co-operation between NATO and non-NATO states.
Speaking at the publication of a policy document on PFP, Mr Bruton accused Fianna Fail of "weak politics" for failing to broach the issue of membership of the initiative.
"Participation in PFP will allow us to enhance the professionalism of our Army and Air Corps by enabling them to co-operate with other forces in Europe," he said.
Membership would also help Ireland share with other countries its experience of peacekeeping, the document argues.
"Fine Gael believes that it is damaging to our own interests and to the evolving European security architecture in which we must play a role if we remain outside PFP. No cogent argument for remaining outside PFP has been put forward," said the party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell.
Forty-three states have signed up for the initiative, he pointed out, including Russia and other neutral EU states, such as Austria, Sweden and Finland.
"The Cold War is over, but international strife continues. Increasingly, this strife is of an internal nature (as in Yugoslavia and Algeria) and requires a new response," Mr Mitchell said.
"There is now greater emphasis on the need for security, stability and good order as a prerequisite to humanitarian aid, for example. The EU does not have the capacity to make this response. PFP can help participating states to maximise their capacity to assist in situations of this kind."
Fianna Fail's 1997 election manifesto expresses opposition to joining PFP and NATO. However, the Progressive Democrats manifesto came out in favour of membership.
