On Thursday 12 October, European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General Pedro Serrano called for partnership with the US to be strengthened on security and defence.
"We would like to develop and strengthen our partnership on security and defence. It would be good to develop a structural dialogue on this subject, which is lacking", he told a hearing on security and defence cooperation between the EU and US that took place in the European Parliament's security and defence committee. Serrano added that there were contacts between the military teams and between the diplomats on the ground. "We are missing a political and strategic level. More interaction is needed between Europeans and Americans", he said.
Taking the example of Africa, Serrano said the EU could work better with Washington on training African forces and providing them with the equipment they need. In his view, this support could soon come about for the G5 Sahel joint force. Serrano stated that the US had been invited to all the coordination meetings organised to support the G5 Sahel joint force. "I hope that, here too, we will be able to develop our cooperation in a very concrete way", he added.
The US chargé d’affaires, Adam Shub, meanwhile said that "never have EU and US interests been as inter-connected as now in Africa". "We are working with the regional force to conquer Boko Haram and Da'esh, and to ensure they do not destabilise the region any more", he added.
Serrano and Shub also spoke at length and in detail on areas of cooperation between the EU and US. Serrano said that "cooperation with the US is essential to meet (global) challenges" such as North Korea or the Middle East. "The US is the main strategic partner for the EU and its member states – be it in terms of bilateral cooperation or in the framework of NATO", he added. Serrano stated that the EU and US were cooperating on sanctions, development aid, global governance development, multilateralism and counter-terrorism. He said, for example, that the US had teams in Europol.
According to Shub, "over the course of the last year, Washington has understood the importance of our strategic partners". "The US is a key defence actor in Europe and is complementary in the work of the EU and its member states", he added. Shub underlined that the threats of terrorist attacks, disinformation and extremism required closer cooperation between the EU and US, between the member states and US, and also with NATO.
Not surprisingly, Shub highlighted cooperation with NATO AND the US presence in Europe, and underscored the importance of spending 2% of GDP on defence. Calling for complementarity between NATO's means and those of the EU, Shub also said he would like third partner countries to have an "appropriate role" in the EU's future permanent structured cooperation. He did not, however, expand on this. Germany has suggested that observer status might be possible for certain states. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)