On Wednesday, 26 January, European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary General Stefano Sannino gave an update on the progress of discussions in preparation for launching the EU-US Security and Defence Dialogue (see EUROPE 12847/16).
Before the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence, Mr Sannino announced that the EU had proposed a wide range of topics that could be covered by this annual dialogue: the strategic security environment and the ‘Strategic Compass’ on the EU side, the national security strategy on the US side, security and defence industries and technologies, resilience, critical infrastructure protection, EU-NATO cooperation, hybrid threats and cyberthreats, and crisis management.
“We are awaiting the feedback from [the Americans] to further fine-tune the modalities and the scope of this dialogue”, explained the secretary general, reiterating that the area of security and defence was “sensitive”. He hoped to receive a reply soon so that the dialogue could be launched, as planned, “in the first months of this year [2022]”.
However, this dialogue is not expected to be easy. “We have to be realistic [...]; we have to be pragmatic in our approach. We have also to understand that we are coming from far [...] and [...] realise that, when it comes to the industrial sector, we are competitors”, acknowledged Mr Sannino.
Vice-Admiral Hervé Bléjean, the director general of the EU Military Staff, felt, “in the dialogue, there is a momentum created by the strategic context, by European initiatives, and by the new positioning of the US administration”.
“It is up to us to work to make the most of the potential [of this cooperation]. I think that the European Union needs to be active; the United States will only seek us out if their interests are at stake”, he warned, specifying that it was necessary to capitalise on Washington’s efforts to smooth things over in response to the lack of dialogue during the withdrawal from Afghanistan or the US-UK-Australia Indo-Pacific Agreement (AUKUS). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)