The French Minister of Defence, Florence Parly, said, on Monday 7 February, that the EU should continue the fight against terrorism in the Sahel, even if the situation in Mali is complicated.
“In the Sahel, despite the major difficulties we face, Europe must continue to play its full role in the fight against terrorism”, she told the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. The minister explained that although there had been significant achievements in the fight against terrorism, the threat was adapting and trying to spread more widely to reach the coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea.
“There is no question of abandoning the fight against terrorism in the region”, she warned, explaining that the question was how to continue this fight and the conditions for doing so. “We are trying to identify ways and means of enabling Europeans to pursue this commitment”, explained the minister, adding that the topic was the subject of intense consultation between Europeans as well as with Africans and the international community. According to her, “a pragmatic approach must be found to overcome the obstacle placed in our path by the [Malian - editor’s note] junta to continue the fight in the Sahel”, (see EUROPE 12883/20).
Faced with an accusation of French interference in Mali, Ms Parly recalled that her country was there at the invitation of the Malian State, implying that if Mali no longer wanted France, it would withdraw. “If this sovereign State were to tell the international community that it no longer wanted certain elements on its territory, you know what would happen and you have seen”, with the departure of the Danish troops, she recalled (see EUROPE 12880/1).
More broadly, Ms Parly said she hoped that the EU would work to better support African partners and to better “support the principle of African solutions to African problems”. “We have many tools, starting with those of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), which must be developed, or the European Peace Facility. We need to see how we can better mobilise our different tools, ranging from long-term cooperation to support on the ground “, she added, saying that these issues will be one of the challenges of next week’s EU/African Union summit in Brussels (see other news).
Ms Parly warns against taxonomy
Furthermore, the French minister warned against taxonomy in the field of defence. “The defence industry is essential for the credibility of the EU. We cannot, on the one hand, build positive tools to help it develop and, on the other, develop other legislation and tools that will weaken this defence industry”, she explained, citing taxonomy, eco-labelling or environmental, social and governance criteria.
According to Ms Parly, these instruments could have the consequence, “if we are not careful”, of depriving defence industries of the possibility of access to bank or market financing, even though the EU is developing financing tools. “We cannot imagine compensating at European level, through public money, what will not come through private money in proportions that have nothing to do with each other”, she explained.
The minister promised that the French Presidency of the EU Council would work to avoid contradictions developing within the EU with “grave consequences for the credibility of our defence tool”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)