Brussels, 12/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - Rear Admiral Richard Wilmot-Roussel, Head of the French military mission with the European Union, considers improvements made by the constitutional treaty in the field of European Security and Defence Policy to be satisfactory. He mainly welcomes the flexibility that has been brought into decision-making procedures as well as the introduction of permanent structured cooperation allowing a group of pioneer states to launch actions remaining open to participation by other countries. "The treaty will allow us to look at things differently and to remain within European structures", Richard Wilmot-Roussel said, seeing this as an opportunity to make Defence Europe progress "under the watchful eye of the European Union" instead of increasing the number of cooperation groups of States outside common structures.
Pending the entry into force of the new treaty, Defence Europe is making headway and "2004 may be a good year", the rear admiral said, recalling that the Union is today preparing a major operation with deployment at the end of the year of 7,000 men in Bosnia Herzegovina. In parallel, it is preparing for the future with instruments - the European Defence Agency and the civil and military planning cell - allowing European ambitions to be fulfilled. The Chief of the French military mission with the Union considers it essential to have tools that work as they should at European level, and that have the desired "adaptability". Although he admits it would have been desirable to begin work in Bosnia at once, Richard Wilmot-Roussel notes that the future planning unit will not become operational until January 2005, once the operation has started. Work concerning the defence agency has also made good progress, the rear admiral says, stressing that the agency's task as far as military capabilities are concerned will stimulate activities in the fields of industrial structures, research and armaments. It is now a matter of defining the first major programmes that should above all include aid for operational research in the space and unmanned aircraft sectors. The future agency is also expected to work in the near future on command and control capabilities, among other things. Strategic transport is another key dossier to be covered by the agency as its activity develops, Rear Admiral Wilmot-Roussel said, adding, however, that "the agency should be at cruising speed before taking such a large task on".