Brussels, 14/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, Belgium's defence minister, Pieter De Crem, confirms member states' willingness to give fresh impetus to common security and defence policy (CSDP). De Crem says: “We have to go beyond our present cooperation”, finding a way to achieve the stated objectives. Defined as the “Ghent framework” (a reference to the informal defence ministers' meeting on 24 September), the defence ministers' desire to have “more political lines” for CSDP props up the need to strengthen the role of the European Defence Agency (EDA) and calls for effective cooperation.
Such a framework contains several elements, e.g: - the resolve to assess and have a more systematic approach when using old and new instruments for capability development (the EDA could play a key role in this assessment); - the need and the desire for a more political CSDP framework which would coordinate different forms of cooperation relating to capabilities; - the taking into account of the current financial crisis as a lever for cooperation; - a strengthened civilian approach which would make it possible to define to what extent military means may be used in civilian crisis-response operations; - and general support in favour of EDA, which should have a more strategic role.
In his letter, Pieter De Crem nonetheless specifies that it cannot at this stage be a question of developing new CSDP instruments but rather of making the best possible use of those which already exist, such as the EDA. Implementation of the instruments foreseen by the Lisbon Treaty (permanent structured cooperation, the solidarity clause, the mutual assistance clause) should be achieved “step by step” in an “ad hoc” manner, De Crem points out, with a view to value-added identification. As things stand, however, there is no political will for taking permanent structured cooperation forward allowing the most ambitious states to develop their own forms of CSDP cooperation. On the other hand, more tangible results could be attained through the sharing and pooling of means beginning in the least sensitive areas such as logistics, training, infrastructure, etc. Concrete decisions within this approach could be taken, De Crem hopes, at the next formal EU defence ministers' meeting mid-December (Ed: the exact date of the meeting has still to be decided). (A.By./transl.jl)