Early resignation SACEUR

Early Resignation NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR) US General Joulwan would resign as NATO commander in Europe at the end of 1996 originally, but resigned earlier than planned, due to problems with NATO's IFOR follow-up force SFOR.

It became evident that NATO member states were reluctant to supply troops for SFOR, which with 30,000 troops is almost half the strength of that of IFOR. As a result of this reservedness, SFOR consists of relatively more non-NATO troops. During IFOR, 15% of the troops originated from non-NATO states but with SFOR this percentage rose to 40%. As a result of this, in SFOR headquarters in Sarajevo many key offices were held by non-NATO states like Sweden, Russia, Finland and Baltic states.

The resignation of Joulwan caused a difference in opinion between the United States and France as to the successor of SACEUR. France wanted a European commander, but the United States rejected this. Then France wanted to supply the commander for NATOs southern region and in return would not claim the office of SACEUR. An agreement was not reached during the summit meeting in Madrid (Spain) in July 1996.