Reuters.com: Prospect of French NATO return tilts power balance - by Paul Taylor

French troops back in NATO?

For the complete report from Reuters.com click on this link

Prospect of French NATO return tilts power balance - by Paul Taylor

The prospect of France returning to NATO's military command after more than four decades of estrangement is tilting the balance of transatlantic relations. The United States is courting France as a new partner in leadership, overshadowing Britain and Germany, diplomats and analysts say, even though President Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to skirt the reintegration issue at this week's Bucharest summit of the 26-nation alliance. Sarkozy announced last year that Paris was willing to return to the military structure from which General Charles de Gaulle withdrew it abruptly in 1966, provided the European Union first made progress on a common defense capability.

The new president has taken a risk at home, since much of the political establishment is wedded to the notion of an independent French or European foreign policy and hostile to any hint of subservience to the United States.