The European Defence Ministers, meeting in Kranj (Slovenia) on Thursday 2 September, highlighted their desire to strengthen European defence, as Europeans were dependent on the Americans to secure Kabul airport from which their nationals and Afghan support workers were evacuated. According to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, Member States have evacuated 17,500 people.
“I think it is clear that the need for a wider ‘European defence’ has never been more evident than today, after the events in Afghanistan”, Mr Borrell said.
“We have seen in Afghanistan that we are not as advanced as we thought we were in our own capabilities. We were dependent on the Americans. And today (Thursday) it will be a matter of drawing the right conclusions. Because Afghanistan is a bitter end, a difficult defeat” stressed German Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on her arrival at the meeting. For her Slovenian counterpart, Matej Tonin (see EUROPE 12781/1), Afghanistan showed that “the EU does not have the capacity to operate in a complicated theatre”.
At the end of the Ministers’ meeting, the High Representative explained that one of the lessons learned was that lack of strategic autonomy comes at a price. “We need to increase our capabilities to be able to act autonomously when and/or if necessary” said Mr Borrell. “The only way forward is to combine our strengths and strengthen not only our capacities but also our will to act”, he added.
He said there was a need to increase the level of preparedness, through joint training and exercises, and to establish new tools, such as the first entry force, which would have allowed Europeans “to provide a security perimeter for the evacuation of European citizens in Kabul”.
Asked about the establishment of a first entry force when battle groups had never been used, Mr Borrell explained that these were two different things. He argued for something “more ready to be activated, more operational”, “more coherent and well organised” than the battle groups that are done on a national basis.
Slovenian Defence Minister Tonin estimated that such a force could number between 5,000 and 20,000.
“We have the money (via the European Defence Fund), if we have the will to create the capabilities required to operate autonomously, in complicated regions as well; that would be a step forward”, he explained.
According to the Slovenian minister, “many ministers have said that changes are needed and ministers have made proposals to change the mechanisms to allow for faster intervention”. He said that while the mechanisms exist, they are too complicated to send soldiers abroad.
Several Member States, including Germany, reportedly referred during the discussion to Article 44 TEU, which allows a group of willing and capable Member States to implement an EU mission (vanguard group). While the High Representative said that he would explore this possibility, he noted that such a decision would require unanimity, even if not all Member States were to implement it.
To get around this difficulty, Mr Tonin felt that perhaps unanimity should be abandoned for the majority, and that countries wishing to commit themselves should do so, without there being an obligation for all to participate. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Agathe Cherki)