Brussels, 16/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the ESDP priorities of the French EU Presidency to members of the European Parliament foreign affairs committee on Tuesday 15 July, Hervé Morin, French Minister of Defence, spoke of the double approach of expediency and capabilities. The French defence minister explained it was a matter of drawing up a “roadmap for the future”, mainly by “renewing the EU's security strategy” and employing various capability programmes (he above all cited the space sector, the Franco-British initiative on helicopters, the constitution of a common fleet of A400M transport aircraft on the model of sharing C-17s by a group of NATO nations, and the French proposal concerning a permanent sea presence of a European aeronaval group). Hervé Morin also highlighted the two concrete projects that the French Presidency hopes to develop: - a European evacuation plan for nationals and a real time maritime surveillance network with a planning and control body at European level, which should ensure more effective countering of trafficking and piracy. The French minister also recommended that a permanent European centre for the planning and conduct of operations be set up. He took care to specify that his recent tour of the capitals “makes him very confident” although there is still some reticence about this last point from the British side. (O.J./transl.jl)