Strasbourg, 06/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - “NATO recognises the importance of a stronger and more capable European defence, and welcomes the EU's efforts to strengthen its capabilities and its capacity to address common security challenges that both NATO and the EU face today”, reads the Declaration on Alliance Security approved by the heads of state and government at the Strasbourg summit. “We are determined to ensure that the NATO-EU relationship is a truly functioning strategic partnership as agreed by NATO and by the EU. Our efforts should be mutually reinforcing and complementary”, the text continues.
The declaration from the Strasbourg-Kehl summit sets out what the 28 mean by “improve the NATO-EU strategic partnership as agreed by our two organisations”. The text states the aim is to “achieve closer cooperation and greater efficiency, and to avoid unnecessary duplication in a spirit of transparency, respecting the autonomy of the two organisations”.
The heads of state and government welcome the deployment of the “rule of law” mission conducted by the EU in Kosovo (EULEX) and encourage all players to continue in their effort to facilitate EULEX deployment and the full implementation of the latter's tasks throughout Kosovo. They also recall the complementary efforts implemented against piracy off the Horn of Africa within the NATO framework (Operation Allied Protector), the CTF 151 and the EU Operation, ATALANTA. The contact group on piracy off Somalia plays a major role in facilitating coordination between all players concerned, the text adds, going on to specify: “We are considering options for a possible long-term NATO role to combat piracy, including by taking into account, as appropriate, regional requests for maritime capacity-building”.
Addressing heads of state and government, Javier Solana pointed out that relations between the EU and NATO have developed since the Alliance's 50th anniversary. Evoking the Union's commitment in Afghanistan, he gave his support for the new American strategy, spoke of the aim of doubling the number of instructors for the EUPOL mission and said that everyone must make an effort with a view to the elections.
During the final press conference, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was “easy to work” with the new US president. He said how pleased he was to hear him say it is necessary to have a Europe of defence, a Europe that is more present in the Atlantic structures. According to the French president, “this coincides with France's commitment to take up its place in NATO again” thus making Europe's influence still greater.
The day before the summit during a joint press conference with the French president, Barack Obama had said: “We want strong allies. We would like to see Europe have much more robust defence capabilities. That's not something we discourage. We're not looking to be the patron of Europe. We're looking to be partners with Europe. And the more capable they are defensively, the more we can act in concert on the shared challenges that we face”. He went on to call on the European countries to do more in Afghanistan, saying it is a problem that they have in common and that therefore requires a joint effort. (O.J./transl.jl)