Eurozone crisis looms large for world leaders
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to see tough action on the eurozone debt crisis and Syria at this weekend's G8 summit in Maryland, his chief spokesman says.
And at the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and Monday, Canada will push for major reforms in how the defence alliance deals with 21st century threats.
Andrew MacDougall, Harper's director of communications, told reporters Thursday Harper intends to work closely with his G8 and NATO counterparts this weekend to help chart a course forward.
"The prime minister is of the opinion that this (the eurozone financial crisis) is the problem that needs to be talked about now, and I think it's good timing that we have this opportunity with some of the principals around a table," MacDougall said in Ottawa.
"It seems like we've been discussing this issue for many a summit," but none of the actions taken to date have cured the underlying debt problem that's plagued Europe for years, he added.
"Tough action needs to be taken...We need to get on top of this."
U.S. President Barack Obama is hosting the G8 summit at secluded Camp David. He met beforehand with France's new socialist president, Francois Hollande, who was elected earlier this month after promising to renege on France's commitment to the European fiscal pact, which is helping to keep the continent solvent, and to yank French troops out of Afghanistan one year ahead of schedule.
Hollande recently blasted Britain for not pulling its weight in Europe and treating the continent as a "self-service restaurant." British Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly said he looks forward to forging friendships, not making "overblown" statements this weekend.
Also on the agenda for Harper at the G8 and NATO summits are the humanitarian crisis in Syria, threats posed by Iran and North Korea, food security in Africa and — most notably for NATO — how to make a smooth transition from NATO to local security forces in Afghanistan before the end of 2014.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has made it clear he intends to pressure Canada to keep trainers in Afghanistan past the current 2014 deadline. There are about 900 Canadian Forces members based near Kabul who are helping to train Afghan security forces.
But Conservative MP Chris Alexander, Defence Minister Peter MacKay's parliamentary secretary, said Canada is committed to bringing its troops home in 2014.
"These sorts of statements prior to a summit are absolutely nothing new," Alexander told Sun News Network recently about Rasmussen wanting Canada to stay engaged longer. "They are part of a lot of dialogue (that) is happening ahead of the Chicago summit, and clearly Canada has contributed strongly at every stage of the Afghan mission."
Also in Chicago, where thousands of protesters are expected to drag out their concerns about corporate greed and rail against the war in Afghanistan, the NATO leaders will discuss the very nature of the 60-year-old defence alliance.
Rasmussen — with Canada's support — is pushing the idea of "smart defence," which is essentially an answer to the West slashing defence budgets, with each member nation specializing in different aspects of NATO's fighting force.
A senior Canadian government official on Thursday referred to it as "burden sharing."
Another major issue for the European nations in particular will be the U.S. shifting its focus — and key military resources — to the Pacific front, meaning Europe will have to pull more weight in upcoming missions in the region.
But as Stephane Abrial, NATO's supreme allied commander transformation, wrote in an op-ed recently, the Asia-Pacific region is just as important to Europe as it is to the U.S., meaning the entire Eurocentric nature of NATO will likely shift as well.
Indeed, along with the initiatives of smart defence, Abrial wrote, Sunday and Monday's summit in Chicago could change the very nature of NATO.
"Multinational harmonization of this scale is undoubtedly a challenge, since defence is tightly bound with national sovereignty. Nonetheless, it is incumbent on my command and all NATO structures to implement the political commitments that will be taken at Chicago and put the alliance firmly on this new path," Abrial wrote. "The result will be a more cohesive and stronger trans-Atlantic alliance, adapted to the 21st century."