MEETING
OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY, FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG AND BELGIUM ON
EUROPEAN DEFENCE JOINT DECLARATION
With enlargement and
the elaboration of a constitutional Treaty, the European Union will become stronger but
also more diverse. It is our common conviction that Europe must be able to speak with one
voice and fully play its role on the international scene. We therefore believe it
necessary to give new impetus to the construction of a Europe of Security and Defence. The
European Union must indeed have a credible security and defence policy. Diplomatic action
is only credible - and thus efficient - if it can also be based on real civilian and
military capabilities.
For more than half a
century, Europe has been facing the security challenges alongside the United States, and
shares with the US values and ideals that are the fruit of its history. The transatlantic
partnership remains an essential strategic priority for Europe. This partnership is a
necessary condition for security and world peace. Expanding on the Declaration of the
Washington Summit, we wish to pursue the adaptation of the Atlantic Alliance, which
remains the foundation of the collective security of its members, to the challenges of the
twenty-first century. We are determined to implement the decisions of the Prague Summit
for we consider our commitments within the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union as
being complementary. The strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO, which
is based on the declarations of the Berlin and Washington Summits, has already enabled the
European Union to use NATO assets to conduct its first operation in the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. We wish that the existing arrangements between the two
organizations will tomorrow make it possible for the European Union to relieve NATO in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It is in this spirit
that, expanding on the Saint-Malo Meeting and on the European Council of Köln, the
European Security and Defence Policy has been steadily developed since the European
Council of Helsinki in December 1999.
We believe the time has
come to take new steps in the construction of a Europe of Security and Defence, based on
strengthened European military capabilities, which will also give a new vitality to the
Atlantic Alliance and open the way to a renewed transatlantic relation.
In order to give new
impetus to the European Security and Defence Policy, we propose that the Convention on the
Future of Europe and the Intergovernmental Conference approve the following principles and
integrate them into the constitutional Treaty:
The possibility of
setting up enhanced cooperation in the field of defence.
A general clause of
solidarity and common security binding all member States of the European Union and making
it possible to face up to all kinds of risks concerning the European Union.
The possibility for
member States that express that wish to accept supplementary obligations, within the
framework of an enhanced cooperation project and with no obligations for third parties.
Reformulating the
Petersberg missions so that the European Union can use civilian and military means in
order to prevent conflicts and manage crises, including the most demanding missions.
The creation of a
European Agency for development and acquisition of military capabilities. The goals of the
Agency will be to increase the European military capabilities and strengthen the
interoperability as well as the cooperation between the armed forces of the member States.
The Agency will help to create a favourable environment for a competitive European defence
industry.
The creation of a
European Security and Defence College in order to favour the development and the spreading
of a European security culture.
Moreover, we propose
that the Convention should accept the concept of a European Security and Defence Union
(ESDU). As a contribution to the reflection, which we wish to pursue with interested
States, we believe the vocation of the ESDU should be to bring together those member
States that are ready to go faster and further in strengthening their defence cooperation.
States taking part in the ESDU will especially:
Commit themselves to
bringing mutual help and assistance in the face of risks of all nature.
Systematically aim at
harmonizing their positions on security and defence issues.
Coordinate their
defence efforts.
Develop their military
capabilities.
Increase their security
and military efforts, more specifically their investment in military equipment.
Participating in ESDU
will imply:
Participating in major
European equipment projects such as the A400M.
Strengthening the
efficiency of the European military capabilities, by specialization and pooling of means
and capabilities as much as possible.
Strengthening the
pooling of means for officer training, exercises, engagement and logistics.
Being willing to take
part in peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations.
ESDU would be open to
all the current and future member States that are ready to join. We wish this concrete
cooperation to be integrated into the constitutional Treaty of the European Union so that,
in the end, all current and future member States could be a part of it.
*
With regard to the
military field, we have decided, as far as we are concerned, to implement here and now and
in the spirit of the Saint-Malo and Köln declarations, a number of concrete initiatives
designed to bring our national defence instruments closer together. The aim of these
projects is to prevent unnecessary duplications between national armed forces and thus
strengthen the efficiency of Europeans' defence capabilities. They are open to all
interested current and future member States.
The following
initiatives fall within the prospect of our common participation in operations conducted
within the framework of the European Union or NATO:
- the development of a
European rapid reaction capability. The progress made in this field will help to achieve
the goals of the European Union, to strengthen the European contribution to developing a
NATO Reaction Force and to guarantee their interoperability. In order to improve the
European rapid reaction capability, we will create a nucleus capability around the
Franco-German brigade into which Belgian commando elements and Luxembourg reconnaissance
elements will be integrated. This European rapid reaction capability can be reinforced by
troops from other interested States and will be available for European operations, NATO
operations as well as operations conducted by the European Union under the auspices of the
United Nations.
- the creation, by June
2004 at the latest, of a European command for strategic air transport, available for
European and NATO operations. The A400M programme is crucial for the development of such a
European capability for strategic air transport. In the longer term, we envisage creating,
with those States taking part in this programme, a common strategic air transport unit and
placing that unit under the European command for strategic air transport. Moreover, we
will consider with interested States the creation of a common command for strategic
transport (sea, air and ground).
The creation of a joint
European NBC protection capability in charge of the protection of both civilians and
troops, which are deployed during European operations.
The creation, liaising
with the Commission and ECHO, of a European system for emergency humanitarian aid during
disasters (EU-FAST - European Union First Aid and Support team) making it possible for the
European Union to combine civilian and military assets in order to send initial emergency
humanitarian aid within 24 hours. This system will be based on the pooling of existing
assets and capabilities. It will be a collective mechanism and the countries that express
that wish will in turn be responsible for it.
The creation of
European training centres: a common tactical training unit for A400M crews; a training
centre for helicopter crews; harmonizing sea training curricula for Navy commanding
officers with a view to the creation of a European training fleet; harmonizing training
for Air Force pilots by enhancing ongoing initiatives, notably in the field of tactics.
The strengthening of
European capabilities with regard to operational planning and conducting operations.
During the European Council of Köln in June 1999, the member States of the European Union
decided to carry out crisis-management operations either by using NATO assets or
capabilities autonomously.
As for operations using
NATO assets and capabilities, a permanent arrangement has been made between the European
Union and NATO. The European operation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is
currently being carried out in application of that arrangement, which is one of the
pillars of the strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO.
As for EU-led
operations not using NATO assets and capabilities, and expanding on the different
proposals made within the Convention, we believe we must improve EU capabilities with
regard to operational planning and conducting operations while avoiding unnecessary
duplications and competition between national capabilities.
To this end, we propose
to our partners the creation of a nucleus collective capability for planning and
conducting operations for the European Union. When in use, it will be reinforced by
national staff. Open to every member State of the European Union expressing that wish, it
would have to establish liaison arrangements with its national counterparts. In order to
maintain a close link with NATO, it would also have to establish liaison arrangements with
SHAPE, including its possible use to support DSACEUR in his role as the primary candidate
to command EU-led operations having recourse to NATO assets and capabilities.
In this spirit and
until such a capability has been created by the European Union, interested States will
establish a nucleus of a collective capacity which, instead of national capabilities, they
would make available to the EU for operational planning and command of EU-led operations
without recourse to NATO assets and capabilities. Such a pooling of resources would avoid
national duplications and significantly improve interoperability. The decision on the
creation of such a capability could be taken by the end of the year with all the
interested States, with a view to its installation in Tervuren during the summer of 2004.
With a view to
improving command and control capabilities available to the European Union as well as to
NATO, our four Defence Ministers will take the necessary steps to establish, not later
than 2004, a multinational deployable force headquarters for joint operations, building on
existing deployable headquarters.
*
With all the interested
countries, we wish to define the outlines of the European Security and Defence Union that
will help strengthen the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance. Furthermore, we wish to
implement the concrete projects aiming at bringing closer our national defence tools.
In this spirit, we
would like these proposals to be discussed during the next Gymnich [informal ministers'
meeting], with a view to a more detailed presentation during the next European Council of
Thessalonica./.
Text
courtesy : Embassy of France in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Welcome
to wellnessland
- An article by
Dirk Lehmann, Germany
From anti-aging to
Pastor Kneipp’s water treading: the trend is towards healthy time-out, with massages,
masks and meditation. In a wellness hotel or a health resort. Wellness is booming, and it
does you good says the author : Editor
Spring 802. The cloud
of dust appears first, then the rumbling of the coach wheels intensifies, the neighing of
the horses, the shuffling of the soldiers. A motley crew, badly dressed, poorly nourished.
They set out to exercise diplomacy, they fought battles, put down skirmishes, made
judgements. Their leader, Charlemagne, has been crowned emperor – this tattered army
serves the most powerful man in Europe. And he too is tired and exhausted, his bones
rattled by some thousands of kilometres. On his return to Aachen, he always does the same
thing – takes a bath, immersing himself in the thermal waters at his residence. And
because he does not like to swim alone, his advisers have to join him in the water.
It may seem audacious
to place Charlemagne at the beginning of the modern trend towards wellness, which in
recent years has thoroughly shaken up part of the health system and the hotel business.
But in the thermal waters in Aachen – which had of course been discovered by the
Romans – the ruler recuperated from the trials and tribulations of power.
Spa: sanus per
aquam
"Sanus per
aquam" means healthy through water. Today the shortened form, spa, is more common. It
stands for the modern version of a therapy which helped Charlemagne to live longer than
his contemporaries, and it stands for a playful form of health care, as described by the
pastor Sebastian Kneipp in his book "Meine Wasserkur," my water cure. Towards
the end of the 19th century, water treatment was more than a mere fashion. At the height
of his fame. Kneipp treated around 4,000 people simultaneously in Wörishofen. The town
became a spa with a bathhouse and sanatorium, where spa doctors prescribed their patients
medicinal herbs and compresses, affusions and water treading. Through Kneipp – who
made no secret of the fact that the inspiration for his "water cure" had come
from the Swiss doctor Johann Hahn – the spa became an institution for ordinary
people. And the workers, men and women alike, needed cures. They were physically suffering
industrialization. The nobility was already taking the healthy sea air.
The first spa on the
Baltic opened 1793, in Heiligendamm. Standing in front of those splendid buildings today,
as they undergo refurbishment, you get the feeling that a piece of Berlin was transferred
to the seashore – the same Prussian splendour as on the capital city’s
"Unter den Linden" avenue, the same delight in the right angle. The spa
architecture of the 19th century, however, also produced ensembles of great lightness.
Driving through Bansin on Usedom, or Binz on Rügen, or Kühlungsborn, or Wyk on Föhr
island or through Norderney you see white wooden houses with terraces and balconies,
towers, high windows and light-flooded rooms, all facing the water. These could only have
been built by people who stayed here exclusively in the summer. Certainly not by the
fishermen, who knew well how nasty a winter on the coast can be.
It is hard to believe
that for a long time many health resorts and spas had a none too positive image. Around
1960, if someone said he was going to a spa, you sympathized with him. You knew he would
shuffle around a sanatorium in his dressing gown, dine on watery soups and pale teas. But
that is all a thing of the past. Today, you are still served soups and teas in these
health resorts, but now they taste good and are reviving, and the soups smack of real
vegetables or far-eastern delights. Furthermore, something has happened which you might
call a paradigm shift: health consciousness has increased. Food in Germany has become more
international, lighter, tastier. Once you have tried the sensational terrines at the
wellness hotel "Meerlust" on the Baltic peninsula Darss or the simply marvellous
vegetarian cuisine at the bio-hotel Kurz in the Alpine national park Berchtesgaden, you
can really appreciate the range of modern delights.
Dressing gown,
not dinner jacket
And when you look at
Kneipp’s recommendations about food you are astonished at the many parallels with
healthy food today – and with the basic lifestyle: Kneipp’s menus did not preach
abstinence. Alcohol was not prohibited, nor was the cigar after a meal – but
moderation was de rigueur. Wellness, as we all know, is a mixed term originating from the
United States. In the 1970s doctors and health politicians there discussed how the
sky-rocketing costs for the health service might be kept in check. The solution: more
fitness leads to better health, which in turn improves your quality of life and results in
wellbeing – wellness as a lifestyle.
Today, it is a matter
of course that a guest at a five-star hotel does not arrive with a dinner jacket in his
suitcase but a dressing gown. A hotel can scarcely get by without a wellness section. But
any hotelier who thinks it is sufficient to offer his guests a sauna in the cellar is
deceiving himself: quality expectations have risen greatly. But the trend represents a
considerable financial challenge for the hotels. In an establishment with 50 rooms, a
state-of-the-art wellness installation costs about 1.5 million euros, for a pool and two
to three saunas. To do things really right, you also join one of the hotel associations,
which guarantees quality, but demands constant innovation.
Feeling well in
nature
Five hundred hotels in
Germany advertise with wellness programs. And although there are some outstanding
addresses in the cities, like the Adlon, Regent Schloss Hotel and Grand Hyatt in Berlin,
Side and Dorint am Wall in Hamburg, Brenners Park and Quisisana Hotel in Baden-Baden, the
big names in this branch have found a place for themselves in nature. Secure in the
knowledge that "feeling well" also has something to do with the landscape and
the view. So there is also Hotel Stadt Hamburg on the island of Sylt, Meerlust in Zingst, Bareissin Baiersbronn, the Gräfliche Parkhotel in Bad
Driburg, the Dorint Seehotel Überfahrt in
Rottach-Egern. To mention just a few.
And there are more and
more saunas, spas and swimming pools around. Almost 600,000 people are employed in the
wellness industry and experts anticipate that this figure will soon be 750,000. Health has
long since been an economic factor: the Germans spend about 62 billion euros a year on it.
Surveys indicate that there has been a lasting change in people’s attitude to health:
in 1985, 18.5% of the population indicated that they wanted to do something for their
health – fifteen years later the figure was 30.4%. In 2001, 5.3 million so-called
"health-oriented trips" were taken in Germany.
In the meantime,
different forms of wellness have developed. You can have antiaging and beauty treatments,
classical and far-eastern massage, sport and fitness, and floating in extravagant water
worlds. And although some of the terms may sound a bit strange, even someone who thinks
the name Cleopatra Bath is kitschy, will still be astonished at the effect on the skin.
And anyone who asks what Water Shiatsu is good for, will enjoy the great relaxation it
promotes. Only after physically experiencing a sound bowl massage on you own body, can you
praise the gentle power of that treatment.
Food for
lifestyle
The traditional health
resorts also have to face up to the new challenge. On the one hand, the medical insurance
companies are funding fewer cures, on the other, the wellness hotels are offering more and
more quality. So the health resorts are doing a rethink: today it is a pleasure to spend a
long weekend in Bad Sobernheim, or in Bad Brückenau-Staatsbad, in Bad Sachsa or Bad
Wörishofen. These venues have redefined themselves. Now, in addition to the quality of
their treatments, they offer the comforts which today’s guests seek: modern hotels
and good restaurants. And more and more visitors from abroad are availing themselves of
these services.
The food is in keeping with the current wellness trend; one could almost speak of the food
for the lifestyle. Travel journalists speak of the harmony between wellness treatments,
hotel room interiors and the food. One has even written about a new philosophy noticeable
in many hotels. But what was in operation there was no far-eastern spirit. The
fundamentals of wellness – a balanced lifestyle of movement, relaxation and
moderation – have been known for over a thousand years. Now it is a philosophy.
Text courtesy:
Deutschland E4 N2/2003. German Embassy in Kathmandu. |
