As of now it is clearly not possible for the European Union to take a line which is independent of the firm and decided wishes of the United States and of the White House. That surely must be where we try to move forward. We need at least to determine for ourselves where our interest lies in having and waging and being capable of implementing an independent foreign policy. No doubt the rapid reaction force must form part of that. We cannot run before we can crawl. We must determine what are our common interests and clearly they must lie in the security of our own Continent, but we must also imperatively develop an independent capacity to do something about it.