On Monday 28 September, the High Representative of the EU, Kaja Kallas, called for Operation Aspides in the Red Sea to be strengthened.
“If we give a mission a task, we must give it the means”, she stressed to the media.
“ASPIDES [...] really requires more naval assets to be operational. The need is bigger than it is ever been. We have a lot of requests for escorting the ships, but we need naval assets that can also do that”, she stressed, calling for the deployment of ships capable of escorting vessels crossing the Bab el-Mandab Strait, such as frigates, as a priority.
According to the High Representative, “the question is there are many ships that have been also offered to this Coalition of the Willing that is not really operational at the moment. So, my question is whether these ships can be put to the Operation of ASPIDES that is fully operational now, so that later on when this other Coalition of the Willing becomes operational, they can move there”. In the spring, many European countries said they were ready to contribute to a coalition of the willing in the Strait of Hormuz (see EUROPE 13867/4).
According to Ms Kallas, two Member States could make additional ships available. These two countries are Belgium and the Netherlands, according to a European source. However, Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius made clear that she didn’t make any concrete commitments at the Council meeting.
Additionally, the High Representative specified that the EU was also working closely with the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, as an observer, in order to avoid any overlap. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)