Luxembourg, 21/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - During a working lunch on the occasion of their informal meeting in Luxembourg, EU defence ministers evoked the role of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) for combating terrorism. Their discussion, which was attended by Gijs de Vries, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, was on the basis of the Council document of November 2004 on the subject of a conceptual framework for the ESDP dimension when it comes to the fight against terrorism. “All defence ministers believe that ESDP does not have a crucial role to play in combating terrorism, but rather a back-up role”, Council President Luc Frieden told the press. He went on to add that it was for this back-up role that “we have asked” Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, to “look at what already exists in the EU and examine how we can best use our military means when needed to combat terrorism”. Mr Frieden above all spoke of the prevention and protection of essential infrastructure or civilian populations. The Luxembourg EU Council Presidency stresses that, in this field, “are policies must be consistent” so that we can know what is happening in the other Council of Ministers' formations (justice and home affairs or economy and finance ministers, for example). Mr Frieden added that the “the EU will only be effective in combating terrorism if it pools all the resources available to it”.
In his speech, Javier Solana confirmed that “military means are only complementary” in the fight against terrorism but that it is necessary to “be able to mobilise all means, both civil and military, including if they are the result of the ESDP capability process”. Means developed within ESDP “must therefore be ready for use to give a coordinated, broader response to such attacks”, he added.