FRANCE's return to NATO's inner circle means a boost for the alliance, a historic shift in relations with the United States and, potentially, a chance for European firms to win more arms deals. The nuclear power, NATO's fourth largest contributor of troops, announced on Wednesday it wanted to return after a 43-year absence to the alliance's integrated military command, which plans, trains and conducts joint operations. For NATO, caught between a complex war in Afghanistan – which Washington admitted this week it was not winning – and an identity crisis brought on by the end of the Cold War, the French gesture is a well-timed gift. Fears of US hegemony in Europe prompted then-President Charles de Gaulle to pull out of NATO's command in 1966. But four decades on, President Nicolas Sarkozy has decided that if France wants to play a role in shaping the future of global security, it is better off inside than out. “It's a hugely important move,” said Karl-Heinz Kamp, head of a research division at the NATO Defense College in Rome. “It shows a fundamental change in France's security policy. France says: ‘We can represent our interests better when we're inside than when we're in this strange half-in, half-out position.'” The NATO command posts France has reportedly secured in the structure are not seen as particularly significant by security experts, but Sarkozy is expecting broader benefits. Joining the fold For years, France liked to see itself as a foreign policy maverick, striking alliances with whoever might further its political and business ambitions. Now it sees a full return to NATO as compatible with those interests. Joining NATO's Defence Planning Committee makes sense for the fourth-largest provider of troops to the alliance's missions after the United States, Britain and Germany. European arms groups, such as EADS, hope that greater weight in NATO will help them in their bids for contracts as well as letting them take part in developing new weapons systems. France also aims at closer cooperation with the United States and President Barack Obama's new administration, burying a rift over the US invasion of Iraq, while retaining its nuclear independence and the ability to criticize missions – after all, NATO member Germany also opposed the war in Iraq. France will still remain outside NATO's nuclear planning group, although experts say NATO would like to see Europe's second nuclear-armed power contribute new ideas. The alliance will also welcome France's battlefield expertise and enjoy a much-needed boost to its credibility. Yet to some critics, that closeness to NATO will come at a price. France argues that its full return will strengthen the US-European dialogue. But some believe such a dialogue cannot take place effectively within NATO. “NATO is an unbalanced organization by design,” said Nick Witney, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former head of the European Defence Agency. “It was built to be US-led and US-dominated, and that does not conduce to a readiness to confront the fundamental issues,” he told Reuters, citing the war in Afghanistan. He said NATO provided a convenient way for Europeans to follow the US lead and duck questions over their own role in gloal security, avoiding a military responsibility that is unpopular with voters. Witney said a frank transatlantic discussion over security was more likely to take place between the United States and the European Union, and not within NATO. Parlez-vous anglais? Others worry that France is pouring resources into NATO that would find better use in joint European defence projects – sources said it is scrambling to find 800 suitable officers with the required English skills to fill its new NATO posts. France argues that its move will strengthen European defence. But there has been little evidence of tangible benefits from France's negotiations with NATO over reintegration, such as a European defence headquarters or more troops for the EU's own battlegroups. Its other ambition is to shape the future of NATO. The Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, which it is expected to head, is officially at the centre of the reshaping of NATO, though security sources describe it as more of a talking shop with little clout. Given Sarkozy's fondness for taking the lead, France could still provide some direction for NATO's attempts to reform. NATO is trying to find a new role as a flexible, modern force countering multiple threats. But just what those threats are and how NATO could help is often not clear. NATO officials have talked about fighting climate change and militants, guarding energy security and food supply, on top of more conventional defence missions. Meanwhile, NATO members such as Poland, looking uneasily towards Russia, want the alliance to focus on its core competencies of military defence and dissuasion. Obama is also expected to ask his European NATO allies to take more risks and carry more weight in Afghanistan. After weeks of passionate debate in France, Sarkozy may feel relieved when the reintegration is finally achieved and the focus switches to the major discussions ahead.
