Wednesday

27th Sep 2023

No 'giant leap' on EU defence at summit

  • 'You can just imagine the headlines in the Daily Mail if [Cameron] agreed to expand EU military powers' (Photo: Defence Images)

Britain and Germany are aiming to downgrade plans for deeper EU military co-operation.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday (19 December) will discuss joint defence for the first time in five years.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The talks come amid calls from the US and from Nato for Europe to do more on security crises in its own neighbourhood, instead of relying on American hardware as in Libya in 2011.

According to draft summit conclusions circulated on Wednesday, they will endorse a series of small projects.

The list includes: creating a club of EU states to build military drones in 2020 to 2025; creating another club to develop satellite communications; and building up EU states' fleets of air-to-air refuelling tankers.

They will ask the European Commission to spend more of its "Horizon 2020" research money on military technology and to draft a study on how to jointly buy military kit.

Leaders will also ask EU institutions to draft a new Cyber Defence Policy and a new Maritime Security Strategy in 2014.

The cyber defence paper will only tackle how to protect EU-level crisis missions, not national assets, from being hacked.

Monday's draft conclusions already bear the scars of Britain's mistrust of EU integration.

An earlier text, from 9 December, spoke of the EU as a "global player" and of strengthening "the Union's strategic autonomy."

But the new draft cuts out "global player" and refers to the "strategic autonomy" of "member states" instead.

The UK and a mixed bag of allies - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Romania - is also pushing for the final text to spell out the primacy of Nato as Europe's security provider.

"We are prepared to be quite tough on this at the summit," a British diplomat said.

Meanwhile, Germany has quietly proposed to drop the 2020 to 2025 deadline for the drone club.

An EU source said it wants the date to be less firm "for commercial reasons" linked to German companies, but declined to give details.

For its part, France, the EU's only other foreign policy power, wants to add a new line on EU funding for unilateral interventions, such as its operation in Mali or the Central African Republic.

"We want to launch a debate on how to better fund military operations, instead of on a case by case basis. We don't expect any decisions tomorrow, but the summit conclusions should reflect this," a French diplomat noted.

Analysts told EUobserver the fact that EU leaders are thinking about defence for the first time since the financial crisis is in itself an achievement.

"It [the EU summit] is not going to be a giant leap forward. But it shouldn't be regarded as a failure because of this," Nick Witney, the former director of the European Defence Agency, said.

He warned that Germany's plan to strip out the drone deadline is damaging, however.

"The drone issue is fundamental for the competitiveness of the European aerospace industry," he said.

"Anything that takes deadlines out of the conclusions is a retrograde step … If they just repeat old platitudes on a common approach, it's not going to be helpful," he added.

Vivien Pertusot, from the Paris-based think tank Ifri, said neither Britain or France are ready to give EU institutions the right to own and operate their own military technology, such as surveillance drones.

But he noted that the two countries are fundamentally opposed on EU-level defence in "ideological" terms.

"For France, it's a long standing ambition for the EU to become more engaged and more robust. But the Brits are ideologically opposed to the EU as a security actor. They fear that if the EU develops in this direction, then 10 to 15 years from now, it could become a competitor to Nato," he said.

He added that British PM David Cameron has erusoceptic votes in mind in the run up to elections.

"You can just imagine the headlines in [British tabloid] the Daily Mail if he agreed to expand EU military powers," Pertusot said.

Protesters call for EU reform near summit venue

As EU leaders descended upon Brussels for the summit, trade unions and members of the public have staged protests against what they describe as erosion of democracy.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. EU and US urge Azerbijan to allow aid access to Armenians
  2. EU warns of Russian 'mass manipulation' as elections loom
  3. Blocking minority of EU states risks derailing asylum overhaul
  4. Will Poles vote for the end of democracy?
  5. IEA says: Go green now, save €11 trillion later
  6. The failure of the Just Energy Transition Fund in South Africa
  7. EU and G7 tankers facilitating Russian oil exports, report finds
  8. EU trade chief in Beijing warns China of only 'two paths' forward

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us