EU Foreign and Defence Ministers seem to have welcomed the ‘Strategic Compass’ project, presented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on the evening of Monday 15 November (see EUROPE 12831/1).
“The approach was widely supported by the ministers”, Borrell said after the Defence Council on Tuesday 16 November.
“In general, Member States supported the approach on defence capabilities, addressing hybrid issues, and engagement with partners”, he said. The High Representative added that some Ministers had stressed that the EU’s approach should be complementary to NATO’s, benefit the Alliance, avoid duplication and ensure coherence. Mr Borrell promised that all this was fully guaranteed by his proposal.
Publicly, Slovenian Defence Minister Matej Tonin described the first draft as “realistic, but at the same time ambitious”, and his Finnish counterpart Antti Kaikkonen described it as “A good basis for future work”. “This document combines a high level of ambition with concrete and operational proposals. This balance is not easy to achieve and a good balance was found [in the first draft], which can of course still be adjusted”, added the French minister, Florence Parly.
According to a European diplomat, “the text was very well received, which shows a very high degree of convergence”. He added that the Member States wanted to maintain the level of ambition and enrich the document and the discussion by identifying more precisely the threats and, therefore, the tools to be had.
Discussions to improve the project are about to begin. Borrell announced that between this first draft and the text that will be adopted - adoption is scheduled for March 2022 - there will be at least two new drafts of the ‘compass’, which will incorporate the work done in the various working groups of the EU Council.
To consult the document: https://bit.ly/3Hvnmra (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)