Eurogroup asks for retention of U.S. forces

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 9

Eurogroup asks for retention of U.S. forces

NZPA-Reuter Brussels Defence Ministers from 11 European N.A.T.O. States have called for American and Canadian troops to remain in Western Europe because of the Soviet Union’s growing military strength.

The ministers of the socalled Eurogroup withir the alliance issued a communique after a one-day meeting in Brussels which noted with concern the increasing military capability of the Warsaw Pact countries. France is the only European N.A.T.O. member which does not belong to the Eurogroup. The Defence Ministers said that the continued presence of substantial United States and Canadian military forces was indispensible to the defence of the alliance as a whole. The United States maintains mote than 300,000 troops in Europe, mostly in West Germany; Canada has a reinforced armoured brigade of about 5000 men, also in West Germany. The Ministers noted that the Soviet Union allocated about 13 per cent of its gross national product to defence, and said that the resulting increase in military strength was being sustained despite the fact that the Warsaw Pact’s militray capability was already far greater than would be required for purely defensive purposes.

The 11 West European members announced that they had increased their defence spending in cash terms by SSOOOM to a total

of about $55,000M this year, in view of Russia’s increasing military might. The communique again called for greater efficiency within the alliance, and further standardisation of its weaponry and equipment: reluctance to share out contracts for arms intended to equip all members of the organisation of 15 countries and a standardisation organisation, the Europeon Programme Group, was established a year ago. The organisation includes the Eurogroup and France, an important armsmanufacturer. France has, however, stopped the E.P.G. by veto from opening talks with the incoming United States Administration of Mr Jimmy Carter—a proposition by the other E.P.G. members so that the Europeans could sell more military equipment to the Americans.