Brussels, 13/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption on Wednesday 13 April of the report by Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy) on CSDP development after entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee regretted that, over one year later, “there is still no sign of a post-Lisbon Community approach” allowing for “traditional procedural and institutional obstacles” weighing upon common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and common security and defence policy (CSDP) to be lifted.
Despite over 250 amendments submitted, the committee maintains the broad lines proposed in the Gualtieri report, and states it is very pleased with the vote. It above all stressed that the European Union's strategic autonomy should be enhanced so that it may uphold its values, pursue its interests and protect citizens. The committee above all deplores the fact that the European External Action Service (EEAS) does not group together “all the existing units” for crisis response and conflict prevention planning and programming. It also calls for regular meetings of a crisis management board to be held, under the authority of the EU high representative and the executive secretary general with the participation of the Commission and coordinated by the managing director for crisis response. The board should, Gualtieri states, be composed of the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD), the Civilian Conduct and Planning Capacity (CCPC), the European Union Military Staff (EUMS) and the EU Situation Centre (SITCEN), as well as geographical offices and “other policy departments concerned … and with the participation of the Commission humanitarian aid, civil protection and internal security structures”. The foreign affairs committee also calls for the creation of a permanent EU operational headquarters and underlines the need for EU capacity to develop political objectives and common strategic lines. Adoption of the report, to be presented during the May plenary, was welcomed, among others, by the deputy-chair of the subcommittee, Krzysztof Lisek (EPP, Poland), who called for CSDP development on Wednesday. (A.By./transl.jl)