On Friday 25 March, the Heads of State or Government approved the ‘Strategic Compass’ that their Foreign and Defence Ministers had adopted on Monday 21 March (see EUROPE 12915/10).
According to the conclusions they adopted, this Compass should provide strategic guidance for the next decade. It sets out a coherent set of actions, means and clear objectives needed to give the EU a new impetus by enabling it to act more quickly and decisively in the face of crises, securing its interests and protecting its citizens, strengthening its capacity to anticipate and mitigate threats, stimulating investment and innovation to develop the necessary capabilities and technologies at European level, and deepening the EU’s cooperation with its partners in pursuit of common goals.
EU leaders called on the EU Council to take forward work on the implementation of the Compass immediately, in accordance with the timetable set out in it.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the objective is “to develop a common military culture, to invest more in defence in order to have more autonomous capabilities and to succeed in building innovations for our armies”. “We need to be less dependent on non-Europeans”, he added.
In mid-May the Commission is due to present an analysis of the gaps in defence investment and proposals to strengthen the industrial and technological base of European defence.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/z4 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editors)