TENS OF thousands of protesters were gathering outside Strasbourg last night ahead of Nato’s 60th anniversary summit that gets under way this afternoon.
Leaders from the 26 Nato member states, many fresh from the G20 talks in London, will gather in the German spa town of Baden-Baden this evening for a working dinner.
There, German violinist Anne Sophie Mutter will serenade French president Nicolas Sarkozy back into Nato’s military command, 43 years after Gen de Gaulle’s departure, while Albania and Croatia will be welcomed as full members.
The real work begins tomorrow morning when leaders cross the Rhine to Strasbourg and debate Nato’s future. What is the alliance’s role in the 21st century? Where in the world should Nato be present, what should it be doing there and who should be doing it?
Outside, 25,000 police have been mobilised on both sides of the border to secure the summit and to monitor protest groups ranging from pacifist groups and globalisation critics to some 5,000 violent “black block” protesters, named after their preference for black hoodie tops.
In Baden-Baden and Strasbourg, police closed off the streets around the summit venues yesterday afternoon and reintroduced temporary border controls.
Despite the huge security operation, opinion is mixed among Nato-watchers about whether the summit will make serious progress.
“The French and Germans have been anxious to pitch this as a ‘family get-together’, a birthday party with just Nato members invited,” said Henning Riecke, defence expert of the German Society for Foreign Policy.
“But it does comes amid a realisation that renewal is required, which ties in with the new American president’s new Afghanistan strategy.” There is general agreement among Nato members that the alliance’s reputation hinges on its strategy in Afghanistan.
President Obama’s plan calls for an increase in US troops in Afghanistan and greater aid and effort with neighbouring Pakistan.
But the third element of the strategy touches on the thorniest issue in Nato burden-sharing – where the US, Canada and others feel they are carrying the heaviest burden – financially and militarily – in the battle against the al-Qaeda insurgency in Afghanistan’s south.
After negative signals from European officials, however, US officials have recommended to President Obama not to push for greater assistance in combat operations.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing a general election in September, has ruled out sending further combat troops but may agree to step up efforts training police and officials when she meets Mr Obama for bilateral talks this afternoon. Dr Merkel’s main priority at the summit is to start a process of increased security and defence co-operation between Nato and the EU.
“The return of France to the military command is the next step to this aim,” said German defence minister Franz-Josef Jung this week in Berlin.
Ahead of the summit, the French and German leaders penned a joint opinion piece calling Nato and EU common security and defence ambitions “two sides of the same security policy”.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, although eager to improve relations with Washington, shares Berlin’s reticence on boosting troop numbers in Afghanistan.
He is also under domestic pressure on several fronts, with critics calling France’s full Nato integration a sacrifice of Paris defence policy independence.
An agreement to talk about closer EU-Nato co-operation would allow Mr Sarkozy to present the summit as a French policy success.
Either way, the Sarkozy stamp will be all over the summit. As well as organising a French airforce fly-by in the Nato colours, he has reportedly demanded a seat at the summit table beside Nato secretary general Jan de Hoop Schaeffer.
A compromise solution may see Mr Sarkozy get his wish – at least until television cameras have left and the alphabetical seat order is restored, as demanded by protocol.
As well as debating the alliance’s long-term strategy, Nato officials said yesterday that there was a “50-50” chance of reaching agreement on a new secretary general.
Danish media reported yesterday that Washington is cooling on the candidacy of front-runner Danish prime minister Rasmussen because of mixed signals from Turkey.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cited Rasmussen’s handling of a 2006 row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad as a point of concern, suggesting his candidacy might not go down well in the Muslim world.
That has the White House worried: it is counting on Muslim backing for its Afghanistan strategy and other regional policies.
The Turkish president later dismissed the concerns and analysts say Rasmussen still has a good chance.
“As prime minister he brings broad knowledge of policy and experience, something Nato could use as it tries to redefine its role in today’s world, where security threats are not purely military,” said Dan Keohane, analyst at the Paris-based Institute for Strategic Studies.
Other candidates for the job include Norwegian defence minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and his Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski.
Poland will be anxious to agree a strategy at the summit on how to improve Nato relations with Russia.
“Poland doesn’t want to be on the front line, it’s not a comfortable place,” said Sikorski earlier this week, suggesting that Russia should join Nato.
A Russian government spokesman rejected the suggestion yesterday, but said Moscow is “ready to develop normal, fully partner-like relations with the alliance”.