On Monday 15 November, the European Defence Ministers will discuss the ‘EU Strategic Compass’ with their foreign affairs counterparts.
This will be the first debate on this proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs to strengthen the EU’s role in the field of security and defence by 2030 (see EUROPE 12830/2).
Obtained by EUROPE, the ‘EU Strategic Compass’ project is based on four axes or words: Act, Secure, Invest and Partner.
Act. “We need to be able to act rapidly and robustly whenever a crisis erupts, with partners if possible and alone when necessary”, warns the High Representative in the 28-page document.
To this end, he says he wants to reinforce CSDP civilian and military missions and operations by giving them “more robust and flexible” mandates, by promoting “rapid and more flexible " decision-making arrangements and ensuring greater financial solidarity. At the same time, he wants to foster close cooperation with European-led ad hoc coalitions, proposing, by the end of 2022, to establish operational links betweenEUTM Mali and Task Force Takuba as well as between EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta and the European Maritime Awareness mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Borrell said the Europeans should agree, as early as next year, on a troop rotation cycle register for CSDP military missions and operations and, by 2023, the EU should be able to deploy a civilian CSDP mission of 200 fully equipped experts within 30 days, “including in hostile areas”.
Mr Borrell also wants to strengthen the civilian CSDP through a new pact, which he intends to have adopted by 2023.
The High Representative intends, as well, to develop an EU Rapid Deployment Capacity (see EUROPE 12830/2) by 2025. “We will agree on operational scenarios in 2022”, he says in the ‘Compass’.
The head of diplomacy also intends to strengthen command and control structures, in particular the military planning and conduct capability, and to increase readiness and cooperation through regular live exercises, including for the Rapid Deployment Capacity from 2023. In the same year, Mr Borrell wants the Europeans to reassess the scope and definition of common costs for military missions and operations.
Secure. The EU must also, according to Mr Borrell, enhance its ability to anticipate threats, ensure secure access to strategic areas and protect our citizens.
He therefore proposes to boost intelligence capacities, such as the EU Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC).
Mr Borrell also calls for the creation of an EU Hybrid Toolbox by 2022, bringing together existing and possible new instruments to detect and respond to a wide range of hybrid threats, including the creation of EU rapid response teams to support the ability of Member States and partner countries to counter hybrid threats.
In this context, he intends to develop next year a Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Toolbox and to strengthen, by the end of 2022, the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox for deterring cyber attacks. In the same year, a new European regulation on cyber resilience will be proposed.
Lastly, he says he wants to strengthen the EU’s actions in the maritime and space fields, notably by extending Coordinated Maritime Presences to other areas, starting with the Indo-Pacific, at the beginning of 2022, and by developing an EU Space Strategy for security and defence by the end of 2023.
Invest. The ‘Strategic Compass’ also calls on Europeans to invest “more and better in capabilities and innovative technologies, fill strategic gaps and reduce technological and industrial dependencies”.
To that end, the High Representative proposes to review the capability development and planning processes and to seek common solutions for developing the next generation of capabilities. He cites, in particular, naval unmanned platforms, future combat air systems, capabilities for space-based earth observation and main battle tanks as well as the necessary strategic enablers for missions and operations.
“As of 2022, annual Defence Ministerial meetings on EU defence initiatives and capability development will be organised”, the document says.
By 2022, a Defence Innovation Hub will be established within the European Defence Agency and, from 2022, Europeans will identify strategic dependencies in the defence sector, with the aim of reducing them.
Finally, Mr Borrell wants the Permanent Structured Cooperation and the European Defence Fund to be fully used to jointly develop advanced military capabilities and invest in technological innovation for defence.
Partner. The last axis highlighted by the ‘Compass’ is the strengthening of cooperation with partners, starting in 2022.
The High Representative intends to strengthen multilateral partnerships with NATO and the United Nations “through more structured political dialogues as well as operational and thematic cooperation” and to increase cooperation with regional partners, including the African Union, the OSCE and ASEAN.
He also wants to boost cooperation with bilateral partners that share the same values and interests, such as the United States, Norway and Canada, and to develop tailored partnerships in the Western Balkans, the Eastern and Southern neighbourhood, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Lastly, Mr Borrell intends to set up a bi-annual EU Security and Defence Partnership Forum to work more closely and effectively with partners to address common challenges.
EUTM, PESCO and cooperation with NATO on the EU Council agenda
On Tuesday 16 November, the Defence Ministers will meet in Council of the EU. They will discuss the EU’s training missions, EUTMs, with a focus on challenges and operational effectiveness, based on proposals from the High Representative. The EU currently has four EUTM missions: in Mali, Somalia, Mozambique and the Central African Republic.
The EU Council is expected to return shortly to the renewal of the UN Security Council mandate for EUFOR Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the concept of coordinated maritime presences, military mobility and the state of play of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). Ministers are expected to approve 14 new projects to be developed under PESCO, in addition to the 46 existing projects. The ambition is for one third of the projects to reach their targets by 2025, according to a senior diplomat.
The ministers are also expected to adopt the EU Council’s guidelines for the work of the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2022.
Finally, the Ministers will have lunch with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss EU-NATO cooperation and issues of common interest. A new joint statement is planned for December.
The meeting on 16 November will be preceded by the EDA Steering Board, where ministers will discuss ways to strengthen the agency’s role in the field of defence innovation. The steering board is also expected to adopt the mandate to negotiate a new administrative arrangement between the EDA and the US Department of Defence. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)