A Strategic Compass for Europe: ‘Quo Vadis European Defence Union?’
2021-11-16 05:24
Thomas Sohst, President of CESI’s expert commission ‘Defence’: ‘It is important that we succeed in sending a clear and unambiguous signal to the common political will through consensual decisions, but also through implementation.
On November 15th the European Council reuniting the European foreign affairs and defence ministers are meeting to discuss the adoption of the first EU Strategic Compass. The document elaborated by the European Union’s High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security with member states’ contribution aims to answer three key questions:
- Which challenges and threats do we face?
- How can we better pool our assets and manage them effectively?
- What is the best way to project Europe’s influence as both a regional and global actor?
Against the background of a constantly evolving world with competing interests and values, the EU’s High Representative underlinedthat ‘the EU must become a security provider because that’s what European citizens want – to be protected by the Union’.
To move to action, the Strategic Compass is formulated as a guide to action and for concrete steps: ‘It would be stupid on my part to present a plane that wouldn’t fly,’ Josep Borrell stated.
The Strategic Compass proposes a ‘Rapid Deployment Capacity’ for all measures provided for in the EU treaties, showcasing how urgent it is for the EU to build capacities in the area of defence. It is emphasized that not only military operations, but also civilian operations and joint operations must be considered.
Thomas Sohst, President of CESI’s expert commission ‘Defence’ in his first reaction: ‘Security policy is based on a common approach. Military operations without the link to civilian accompaniment and continuation will not bring political solutions. This, too, must be a common political understanding in Europe.’
On the occasion of the third European Defence Round Table, Elena Lazarou,Head of Unit at the European Parliament Research Service, underlined that Europe needs more enhanced intelligence cooperation in fighting common threats, advanced interoperability, improved immediate capabilities and an early warning system for defence.
Thomas Sohst made it clear: ‘It is important that we succeed in sending a clear and unambiguous signal to the common political will through consensual decisions, but also through implementation. Otherwise, it will not be possible to strengthen security in and for Europe. More is needed than what has been done so far. Minimal consensus will not bring any additional security.’
As a representative of military and civilian staff, Sohst insisted on the social dimension of the Strategic Compass: ‘Joint training, use of jointly procured equipment, common strategies and the consolidation of implementation as defined in the draft will be a good basis. But they will only be successful if the interests of the staff is also taken into account. As CESI, we miss the social dimension of the Strategic Compass, and to consider it would be an example for a tangible concretisation of the European Pillars of Social Rights that Europe has committed itself to.’
