NATOs generalsekretær Anders Fogh Rasmussen sier EU bløffer om sin soft power, så lenge de ikke er villig til å betale for et skikkelig forsvar.

Nato head Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said there cannot be a credible EU foreign policy without the military means to back it up.

«We Europeans must understand that soft power alone is really no power at all. Without hard capabilities to back up its diplomacy, Europe will lack credibility and influence,» he told MEPs on the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee in Brussels on Monday (6 May).

«If European nations do not make a firm commitment to invest in security and defence, then all talk about a strengthened European defence and security policy will just be hot air,» he added.

Twenty one out of the 27 EU countries are also Nato members.

Rasmussen said they lack «transport planes, air-to-air refuelling and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.»

He noted that, given the financial crisis, it is «too expensive for any individual [EU] country» to buy the hardware that Nato needs Europe to have.

He also indicated that European countries are too dove-ish in their approach to foreign crises.

«We must also have the political will to use them [military means]. To deal with security challenges on Europe’s doorstep. To help manage crises further away that might affect us here at home,» he said.

Rasmussen spoke in the run-up to an EU summit on defence in December – the first one since the financial crisis erupted in 2008.

His remarks on EU foreign policy prompted questions on whether he is interested in taking EU foreign service chief Catherine Ashton’s job when she departs next year.