On Thursday 15 December, the heads of state or government of the member states of the EU will meet the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, for a formal session of the European Council given over to defence. The aim is to determine the level of ambition to reinforce European defence in 2017.
The debate will be based on the three areas of work currently being undertaken to reinforce cooperation between the member states, the common security and defence policy (CSDP) and opening the door to new tools and initiatives at European level. The need for collective efforts to ensure that the Europeans take greater responsibility for their own security is a principle on which there is consensus agreement. However, this is not necessarily the case when it comes to how to put this into practice.
The first plank, which is referred to in the draft conclusions of the Council dated 12 December, concerns the plan for the implementation of the 'security' and 'defence' planks of the EU global strategy (see EUROPE 11679). The second plank relates to the Commission's defence action plan (see EUROPE 11667), while the final plank concerns cooperation between the EU and NATO (see EUROPE 11683).
There is not, however, unanimous agreement on the best way to assess the required level of ambition of the priorities. Countries such as France see this as an opportunity for the EU to take its own destiny in hand and welcome the stated level of ambition, although concerns remain as to how these projects will become reality. In the view of other countries, such as Poland, NATO remains the cornerstone of European security. The Commission's projects for industry and defence are not viewed favourably, but as a threat to its own plans to create its own industrial fabric (more details, see our bulletin Europe, Diplomacy & Defence). (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)