Brussels, 12/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Given “carte blanche” by Le Soir on 5 January, French Socialist Louis Gautier called for a “military Schengen”. “Since the European constitutional treaty has gone off track, relaunching the European defence policy requires an appropriate legal framework”, he writes, saying that this legal framework could take the form of an agreement of the Schengen kind, which would take on board the provisions set out in the constitutional treaty on defence: - the mutual guarantee clause in the event of aggression, the consolidation of ESDP bodies, the inter-pillar approach and the principle of structured cooperation in military fields. “The treaty, which is open to all, would be conceived as an extract of the constitutional treaty for the States that have already ratified it or as a specific development of the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties for the others”, Louis Gautier explains. He goes on to say: “Given its consensual nature, it could be rapidly submitted to parliamentary ratification everywhere. If there is overall agreement, the States that so wish could, in the context of structured cooperation, go further towards integrating their military forces. Should the 27 not agree, the provisions of this treaty on defence could, as in the case of the euro and the Schengen Agreement, be implemented by a pioneer group of States. Such a specific agreement on defence can be a very effective lever for bringing the political dimension of Europe out of its rut”.
The idea of overcoming political Europe's crisis through defence is widespread in France, where different political movements willingly recognise that “defence is the only major issue on which the French and Dutch did not vote no”, one observer points out. Some elements of ESDP contained in the constitutional treaty have been implemented in advance and the ESDP has continued to produce concrete results despite the institutional deadlock. It is quite legitimate to want to use this very positive result to give fresh impetus to Europe but, as some point out, the defence lever could prove “too short” to lift the whole political edifice. In addition to a somewhat strange legal construction, Louis Gautier's formula comes up against two major obstacles. At this stage, the political officials of several Member States including Germany do not wish to hear of cutting up the constitutional treaty that they have already ratified. With only 13 Member States out of 27 linked by the Schengen Agreement - with one notable absentee, the United Kingdom - a military Schengen could not be credible if the level of participation were to fall below a certain point.
Louis Gautier, who is councillor at the Court of Auditors and national representative of the French Socialist Party on strategic reflection, is also president of the Club Orion whose members include former Defence Minister Alain Richard, President of the WEU Assembly Jean-Pierre Masseret, and other Socialist representatives interested in defence matters. (oj)