On Thursday 14 December, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said that the dream of European Defence was finally becoming a reality.
“More than half a century ago, an ambitious vision of the European Defence Community was created. But what was missing was the unity and courage to put it into practice (…). Today, the dream is becoming reality. We are launching the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PSC), which is a concrete expression of our ambition for a European defence”, he said in his speech at a ceremony attended by the 25 heads of state or government of the member states participating in the PSC (see EUROPE 11923).
A few minutes previously, the European Council had agreed on conclusions welcoming the launch of this “ambitious and inclusive” Permanent Structured Cooperation. Tusk said that with 25 member states, the PSC is certainly inclusive and if all the commitments made are respected, it will be equally ambitious. In their conclusions, the leaders stressed the importance of rapidly implementing the first projects. “These are collective projects that are relevant and practical. The first 17 projects are based around the state of the art, defence solutions that will truly improve the operational capability of the EU”, the Cmdr in Chief of the Estonian Defence Forces, General Riho Terras, explained.
No competition with NATO
According to the conclusions, the leaders already call upon the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, the Commission and the member states to work together on military mobility, in the context of both the PSC and of NATO.
For the PSC does not aim to replace the Alliance. “A strong European defence naturally strengthens NATO”, Tusk said. The European Council furthermore calls for the continued implementation of proposals on EU/NATO cooperation, agreed upon in Warsaw in July 2016.
The Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, who was invited to join the Twenty-Eight and whose term in office has just been renewed for three years, announced that he had agreed with the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council on the signature of a new joint statement, on the sidelines of the forthcoming NATO summit in July of next year. “A strong European defence is most welcome, as long as it reinforces the European pillar of NATO rather than competes with it”, he said.
Furthermore, the High Representative announced the creation, in the coming days, of a working party to coordinate the aspects of the work on the Europe of security and defence. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)