Europe urged to end U.S. reliance

MUNICH, Germany -- A major defence conference has been told that Europe must make its own contribution to global peace and be less reliant on the United States.

That warning was made at the 38th annual meeting in Munich, Germany, of 250 delegates from 43 countries.

The fight against terrorism dominated an agenda which also included the future role of NATO, the Middle East and the recent tension between Pakistan and India.

Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber said European defence spending had to be increased.

"Europe is called upon to take on more responsiblity for global peace," Stoiber said as he opened the conference on Saturday.

"We need modern forces that can be mobilised quickly with the technically best equipment who can operate with our...(NATO) partners where the new dangers and risks demand."

Stoiber said Germany in particular had to increase its defence budget significantly to fulfill its growing global commitments.

He added that "we Europeans must not just rely on America. We must do more for our own security and for global peace."

That message will be repeated on Sunday by NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, when he addresses the meeting.

Robertson told a leading German newspaper he was increasingly concerned that Europe was falling behind in its military capabilities.

The gap is "unhealthy" for the Atlantic alliance because the United States will find it ever more difficult to "have allies when it needs allies," Robertson told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Friday.

Horst Teltschik, organiser of the conference, said Europe had to move quickly.

"I see a danger of European soldiers no longer able to act with their U.S. counterparts," he said.

Tight security

EXTRA INFORMATION • In Depth: Euro launch

Also speaking at the meeting on Saturday was U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who told delegates that NATO had to be overhauled to fight terrorism.

He said that "our old assumptions, our old plans and our old capabilities" that had defined NATO prior to the September 11 attacks on the U.S. were now out of date.

He called on NATO leaders to launch "a military transformation agenda" focused on developing the alliance's "capacities in counterterrorism."

"We are in a new era, we are facing new risks, and we must have new capabilities," Wolfowitz said. "As an alliance, we have never been stronger."

He also warned supporters of terrorism that suspect states had been warned, were being watched and would be held to account.

Wolfowitz said the suicide hijack attacks of September 11 were a pale shadow of what would happen if terrorists used weapons of mass destruction.

"Our approach has to aim at prevention and not merely punishment. We are at war," he said.

"Those countries that choose to tolerate terrorism and refuse to take action -- or worse, those that continue to support it -- will face consequences."

Wolfowitz said the United States and Russia must cooperate against terrorism and continue to move toward "a normal, health relationship."

But he made plain it is essential "that NATO retain its independent ability to decide and act on important security issues."

Security around the conference venue is tight with more than 3,000 police on the streets of Munich.

On Friday, up to 300 protesters were arrested as they staged an anti-NATO demonstration in the city. Of those, 29 were charged with assaulting and resisting forces of the law.

More than 100 outside organisations have planned to target the conference to demonstrate against militarism.

One Web site, "Against the Munich Security Conference," urges people to join three major demonstrations, saying: "The gathering ... try to make the public believe that the main topic of this conference is the keeping of peace in the whole world and the international security. The opposite is true: They are planning the next war!"

On the day of the launch, 90,000 euros ($79,720) were stolen from a bank near the Spanish city of Zamora.

Last month, the driver of a German armoured truck stole up to 20 million euros ($17.5 million) after threatening his co-driver.

The truck was delivering the cash to a bank in central Frankfurt when the 23-year-old French driver pulled into a car park and pulled a gun on his colleague.