On Saturday 5 May, France’s Defence Minister, Florence Parly, argued in favour of the French proposal for a common European intervention force.
Speaking during an AFP interview on the sidelines of the informal meeting of European ministers, in Sofia, Parly explained: “This intervention initiative is a means of cooperation between states that have a certain number of support or operational capabilities and that wish to use them wherever this seems necessary and useful, whatever the legal intervention framework”. The aim is to “draw on states that are not necessarily willing to take part in offensive military intervention but [which would be] ready to provide support of an extremely important logistic kind”, she added. She went on to explain that such a force could also cover the evacuation of nationals in the event of a crisis.
According to AFP, France has the support of nine countries: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. “We must meet with a number of countries early June to make this official with a letter of intent”, the French minister said, going on to add that “this was going to be done very quickly”. In addition, she said, the force “would not require Community funding”.
When asked about the competition that such a project could have with permanent structured cooperation (PESCO), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said that “there is full coordination, there is full coherence”. She said she can see that there is the intention on the French side to “make the future initiative they have in mind perfectly coherent with the work we are doing under PESCO”. Mogherini concluded: “It would be completely contradictory not to work in the same direction and I think there is no risk of that happening”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)