Brussels, 16/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) is disappointed at the lack of progress in developing a common security and defence policy (CSDP) since the Lisbon Treaty came into force, despite the opportunities the Treaty brings in this area. “More than one year after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, there are not yet clear signs of a post-Lisbon EU comprehensive approach”, MEPs regret in the report by Roberto Gualtieri (S&D) on the development of a CSDP over the last 12 months. A “credible” external security policy requires greater inter-dependence among member states and improved internal cohesion and mutual trust and solidarity, they state. The European Council must “carry out its task of identifying the strategic interests and political objectives of the EU by drawing up a European foreign policy strategy geared to international developments”. The EP also wants to “enhance cooperation with EU national parliaments in exercising democratic scrutiny over the CFSP and the CSDP, with the goal of mutually reinforcing their respective influence on the political choices made by the other European institutions and by the member states while fully respecting existing national parliaments' defence policy prerogatives”. The EP calls on Catherine Ashton, as EU High Representative and head of the European External Action Service (EEAS), to “interpret her role as proactive” and to “actively foster a political consensus among the member states on the strategic directions and policy options for the CFSP and the CSDP”. MEPs consider, too, that credible, reliable and available military capabilities are a key condition of an autonomous CSDP. In this context, they regret that “sharp contrast between the €200 billion per year spent by the member states on defence” and the “lack of means at the EU's disposal”. The EP is critical, too, of the “painfully protracted conferences” needed to constitute a force for EU military operations. “Over more than 12 years, the method of the force generation process has not yielded any de facto improvements regarding the quantity and quality of military capabilities available for CSDP missions”, the report states. MEPs also slam the “widespread overlapping of defence programmes in the EU”, the consequence of which is that “economies of scale are not achieved, limited economic resources are wasted, and the prices of European defence equipment are over-inflated”. The EP is of the view, too, that one of the preconditions of CSDP autonomy and credibility is the creation of a more competitive and efficient European defence and security market, with an enhanced European defence technological and industrial base. It stresses that cooperation between the EU and the UN in crisis management must be strengthened. As for NATO, MEPs acknowledge that the Atlantic Alliance is “the foundation of collective defence for those member states which belong to it” and stress “the need for constructive cooperation between the EU and NATO, particularly where the two organisations are active in the same theatres of operations”. (H.B./transl.rt)