Brussels, 27/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with our specialised publication, Europe Diplomacy & Defence, the chairman of the European Union Military Committee calls in favour of rapidly and effectively implementing the various instruments introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in the field of defence: - permanent structured cooperation (PSC), a European capabilities and armaments policy, a solidarity clause and a mutual assistance clause, an operation conducted by a group of states on behalf of the EU, and a fund dedicated to preparing operations. General Håkan Syrén trusts that all these tools will be in place by next year. He states that all such instruments are important but that Belgium and also he, himself, “will give priority to permanent structured cooperation. It is not a science. This can be very pragmatic. We cannot continue to do business the way we have done so far with the new economies in Europe”. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that, as far as PSC is concerned, seeking to include all member states at all cost and “find a common denominator that all the 27 can agree on (…) I mean that's almost theory”. “So we must find, I would say, clusters, groups of countries, stimulate them to work together and that is a good start. We must be very pragmatic and take examples in the battlegroup concept”, he adds.
General Syrén also underlines that the crisis makes restructuring and consolidation of the defence industry necessary in Europe. “While the armed forces are shrinking, I think, concerning armaments, that there will be a necessity for fusion. (…) There is no room for all the facilitators of personnel vehicles or the naval shipyards. The armed forces are so small now in Europe that it will be difficult to maintain all these structures”, Syrén said, going on to assert by way of conclusion: “So, concerning armaments, I foresee a need for rationality and a lot of pain”. (O.J./transl.jl)