Compte rendu de la conférence autour du rapport du Sénat “Défense européenne, le défi de l’autonomie stratégique” Présenté par ses auteurs, Madame la Sénatrice Hélène CONWAY-MOURET et Monsieur le Sénateur Ronan LE GLEUT. Le débat était animé par Madame Françoise Hostalier, Membre du bureau d’EuroDéfense France.
Your Excellency,
In my capacity as President in Office of EURODEFENSE, I have the privilege to submit for
your kind attention and evaluation the outcome of the EURODEFENSE President’s Council meeting
held in Brussels last month.
Une défense européenne digne de ce nom se doit de garantir la sécurité de ses citoyens où qu’ils se trouvent, de protéger ses infrastructures et de défendre ses intérêts partout dans le monde. Or, peu d’Etats ont la capacité de répondre seuls à l’ensemble des besoins de défense. La complémentarité au niveau européen s’impose. Par l’association EuroDéfense-France, tribune collective.
Tribune. Responsabilité régalienne par excellence des Etats, la souveraineté ne saurait se dissocier de la puissance. Qu’est la souveraineté sans la puissance, quand il faut protéger ses intérêts ? Le monde du XXIe siècle est celui des Etats continents, comme la Chine, la Russie, les Etats-Unis ou l’Inde, plus puissants que chaque Etat européen pris isolément.
European defence cooperation on education, training and simulation has many important advantages to enhance skills, share European military culture for our military men and women, and reduce costs. The importance of cooperative training and the intention to make training an element of the permanent structured cooperation has been agreed in the Lisbon Treaty. This intention was reinforced in more recent papers on European cooperation, but omitted in the European Defence Fund. Simulation technology for training goals was never mentioned. Hence, we believe cooperation on education, training and simulation needs more attention.
Illegal immigration is probably one of the main security challenges Europe is facing. Never in recent history have so many people wanted to settle in Europe, either because they are threatened in their home countries and they seek asylum, or simply for economic reasons, as they want to enjoy a better life. But can one really talk about a European migration policy?
EuroDefense proposes strengthening existing processes of dialogue and consultation between USA, EU and Russia and further action on a number of sensitive situations.
Implementation of a Member State-driven Coordinated Annual Review on Defence is being developed by the European Defence Agency and will be submitted to the Member States. This initiative must change ingrained sovereign habits and guarantee increased cooperation and synergies, with some elements carried out within NATO. The EDA will presumably propose a pragmatic and incremental approach, which will likely get the
agreement of Heads of States and Governments. We hope this will profoundly improve the interactions between Member States. This should be better shared with citizens and in particular with youth. In response to the rise of nationalism, the EU must promote the perception of and belief in a common destiny.
Au cours de ces derniers mois, plusieurs documents innovants ont été publiés concernant la Politique de sécurité et de défense commune (Stratégie Globale de l’UE, Document de mise en œuvre, Feuille de route UE-OTAN, Plan d’action de la Commission) conduisant à des décisions importantes, qui mentionnent un rapport d’étape dès mars et de nouvelles orientations stratégiques annoncées pour juin 2017.
It is only since 2014 that European autonomy in the field of defense has become an acceptable notion, and even an explicit goal, in European defence discussions between European institutions and the member states.
