On Thursday 6 December, Pedro Serrano, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service and Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, sought once again to reassure the EU's partners, chiefly the United States, about developments in European defence and how it will not conflict with NATO.
“What the EU is doing at the moment is helping Member States to develop defence capabilities [...] just as the Americans have been asking for years - through burden-sharing - and as we are now doing”, said Serrano during the European Defence Industry Summit, adding that this is being done in parallel with strengthening of EU/NATO cooperation. “If you want to be a credible partner, you have to have the capacity” he added.
Asked about American claims that European defence policy would be a distraction from NATO, Domecq said that on defence issues, “rhetoric has always been bad, on both sides of the city [i.e. between the Commission and NATO (editor's note)] and on both sides of the ocean [i.e. between the EU and the United States (editor's note)]”. In Domecq's opinion, as long as European defence policy and NATO are not at odds with each other, they can both expand. “I don't think that's a problem as long as it helps create two consistent capacity development planning exercises", he explained.
“We have built bridges to work with partners from the beginning”, added Mr. Serrano. He explained that he would have to consider how these bridges would be used, particularly for permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) or the European Defence Fund (EDF).
While the Council is still working on the participation of third countries in permanent structured cooperation projects, Mr Domecq - who believed that an agreement on this issue was still “feasible” before the end of the year - nevertheless emphasised that the aim was for Member States to work with each other and “not with third countries”. “That's why the participation of these countries is referred to as a 'one-off'”, he explained. But he also thought that, in many projects, “one-off” participation of third countries could bring "added value" and should be achievable: “their participation is important, but it is not the main focus of PESCO”. He compared PESCO to a marriage, explaining that when you get married, you don't look for another partner outside the marriage.
In addition, according to Alain Alexis, head of the Defence Unit in the European Commission's Directorate General for Growth, the European Defence Fund is also likely to benefit foreign companies. “If US-controlled companies have subsidiaries in Europe, they will be able to participate in a consortium and benefit from the EDF under certain conditions specified in the legislation [regulation]”, he said. Institutional negotiations on this Fund are due to start early next year.
And, contrary to American fears, European initiatives, including the EDF, will not change public procurement rules in Europe, Domecq confirmed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)