EU: EU foreign ministers have agreed to develop a European security strategy identifying common security interests and joint action against shared threats, writes Denis Staunton in Rhodes.
They have asked the EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, to present a report on the emerging strategy to EU leaders when they meet in Thessaloniki next month.
Meeting on the Greek island of Rhodes, the ministers acknowledged that the move was a response to divisions within the EU over the crisis in Iraq.
The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr George Papandreou, who chaired the meeting, said the strategy could become a fully-fledged security doctrine. "It would be in many ways similar to the security and defence policies developed in the United States."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, welcomed the move but stressed that the ministers had only agreed to begin consultations on what the EU's security priorities should be. "We are at the start of a process and I welcome that process," he said.
Mr Cowen said the EU's success in projecting its trade interests internationally offered an example of how foreign policy could benefit from a more strategic approach. "The EU has done that in trade because it defines its interests very well."
Germany's Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, also welcomed the initiative but played down the significance of differences within the EU over Iraq. "European unity consists of the diversity of positions. You cannot be against a super-state and at the same time believe that everyone should have the same opinion," he said.
Mr Papandreou, however, described the Iraqi crisis as "a turning point" for transatlantic relations. He said that Europe must now begin to define its security interests and develop a foreign policy strategy. "We need a security doctrine or at least the basic framework of one," he said.
The ministers, who boarded a ship for the Turkish coast last night, will today discuss ways of improving the relationship between the EU and the US. They will consider a number of submissions from academics, political commentators and European politicians, including the former taoiseach, Mr John Bruton.
In his submission, Mr Bruton, suggests that the EU should establish a formal dialogue with the US on the "linked questions" of pre-emptive wars, weapons of mass destruction and the battle against terrorism.
"The aim should be to develop a new, predictable, well understood and intellectually sustainable doctrine for managing the post-September 11th world, with well understood rules about when war is justified and when it is not," he writes.
The ministers will also discuss this week's defence initiative by Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Some countries believe the initiative could mark the beginning of a more coherent defence and security policy for the EU. But others, led by Britain and Spain, fear it will further damage transatlantic relations and create an expensive rival to NATO.