The Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service in charge of the Common Security and Defence Policy and Crisis Response, Charles Fries, announced on Tuesday 30 November that a new draft ‘Strategic Compass’ should be presented by mid-January.
Although foreign and defence ministers reacted “very positively” to the first draft compass on 15 November, “there is still a lot of work to be done to have a robust consensus”, he told the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) (see EUROPE 12833/2).
After a political orientation by the European Council on 16-17 December, “there will be a second draft (of the compass) by mid-January and a third one in early February”, explained the EEAS representative. He added that the aim was to submit the text to the Defence Ministers for adoption on 21 March 2022 and for approval by the Heads of State or Government on 24 and 25 March.
According to Mr Fries, Member States highlighted three areas of concern: the need to balance military proposals with civilian and conflict prevention measures; the need to balance geographical priorities, with some Member States calling for a focus on the immediate neighbourhood and others calling for a more global approach with Africa and the Indo-Pacific region as a priority; and finally, the balance between strengthening the EU’s role on defence and security and strengthening cooperation with NATO.
Asked about the battle groups and the EU’s rapid reaction capability, Mr Fries announced that the parameters of the battle groups would be “greatly modified”. According to him, the capability could be based on two possible forces: these groups and troops proposed by the member states based on the mission to be accomplished.
The Deputy Secretary General of the EEAS felt that the deployment period for the battle groups should be changed from 6 months to 1 year. He also called for joint exercises of these battle groups. Finally, Mr Fries stressed the need to review the funding of the groups so that the cost of deployment is not borne by the framework nation.
Referring to the hybrid toolbox proposed in the ‘Strategic Compass’, Mr Fries said it would include the cyber toolbox, which already exists and “works well”, the ‘foreign information manipulation and interference’ toolbox - which would allow for sanctions - and a toolbox for other hybrid attacks.
The day before, still before the SEDE committee, Commissioner Thierry Breton had stressed that cyber defence was an area where cooperation at EU level could bring real added value. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)