Brussels, 17/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Silvio Berlusconi focused the press conference closely following the end of the European Council on Friday morning on future European defence. After having been the theme of an ad hoc meeting on Thursday afternoon between Messrs Chirac, Schröder and Blair, defence, constituted, that evening, the main subject at the dinner for Members of the European council. The dinner proved productive, according to Mr Berlusconi who mentioned, "absolute unanimity to provide the European Union with an appropriate defence policy". The Italian Prime Minister considered that an agreement existed on the "need for an adequate military force" to allow the Union to play a role on the international scene. He explained that the European Council had reached an agreement on structured cooperation contained in the draft constitutional treaty although they are open to all Member States and included in a complementary NATO logic. In this context, criteria for participation in structured cooperation is expected to be approved by the European Council, he added. the CFSP High Representative ("who we say is as "high" but not as big as me", observed Mr Berlusconi), Javier Solana confirmed that the debate on defence had been "extremely constructive and that he had heard nobody express the least of doubts on the need to obtain a military capability that is autonomous but complementary to NATO". Asked about the need to set up a European HQ, Mr Berlusconi said that, "it is clear that if we had our own defence, we would have our own command centre, coordinated with that of NATO". In relation to US worries, he explained that it was normal for European to make more of an effort in investment in defence after having for so long benefited from the NATO umbrella and the "costs paid for by US taxpayers".
The progress on defence will still have to be formalised in the future treaty at the same time as solution to the institutional problems which have still not been sorted out. In his context and for the task of finding solutions with certain governments or "groups of countries", Berlusconi confirmed that he would proceed to bilateral consultations in order to reach by the end of the year, the adoption of a Constitution "that is equal to the ambitions of Europe on the international scene". To those fearing drift and the subsequent very detailed and technical draft treaty, Mr Berlusconi repeated that this would involve a Constitution including the provisions that are habitually found in "fundamental law". During the summit, it was mainly Spain which supported the idea of bilateral consultation. Austria insisted on having a place for all countries and France wanted them to really aim to "finalise" the draft.
Silvio Berlusconi summed up the other results of the European Council, insisting, together with Romano Prodi, on the importance of the initiative for growth. "I believe that this will provide good support for the European economy", he said, while the President of the European Commission clarified a few points in the Quick Start projects (see other article).
Mr Berlusconi congratulated Pope Jean-Paul II at length for the 25 years of his papacy. He pointed out the conditions I which the Polish Bishop, Karol Wojtila had been elected and the influence he had had on the fall of communism and the iron curtain. At Portugal's request, the Presidency's conclusions finished with the following sentence, "the European Council congratulates his Holiness, Jean-Paul II on the occasion of the twenty fifth anniversary of his papacy".