The text that the twenty-seven had to approve Monday, insists on the need for Europeans to vigorously defend their interests.
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Hat up in Brussels Monday, March 21, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense had to approve the final version of a text supposed to direct the external action of the European Union for the next ten years. The adoption of this “strategic compass” (Strategic Compass), the first of its kind, has been rusted by the decision of Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine, even as “disbelief dominated until the day before. February “, Date of the offensive trigger, Rosa Balfour, director of the Carnegie Europe Center.
Nor the war in the former Yugoslavia, neither the one who ravaged Syria, nor the annexation of the Crimea, nor the affirmed hostility of the Trump administration, nor the obvious finding of too much energy dependence With regard to Russia had allowed the adoption of such text. It took Russia to invade its neighbor so that, on the one hand, Europeans finally decide to speak with one voice, and that, on the other, that voice states that the return of the war in Europe must Give the governments to really worry about the security of the continent and the defense of the interests of the Union. “The war has finally helped to create consensus around the European Defense,” Analysis Nathalie Loiseau, MEP Renew Europe and Chair of the Defense Subcommittee in Parliament.
The former Minister of European Affairs qualifies as “good text, necessary and realistic” this initiative she claimed in 2019 and that the High Representative Josep Borrell presented, in the form of a first version, in November last. Europe is “in danger,” he said. The new milling, largely adapted since the triggering of the war, this time speaks a “tectonic change” in the history of the continent.
A quick deployment force
If the first version, based on broad consultation and intelligence services analyzes, especially mentioned new threats such as cyber attacks, broad-scale misinformation, migration instrumentalization – as in the crisis Triggered by Belarus at the Polish border, end 2021 … – The fifth version submitted to ministers emphasizes especially the necessity, for Europeans, to vigorously defend their interests on the world stage. And this mainly facing Russia, this power vis-à-vis which the attitude of the twenty-seven has oscillated between complacency, naivety and indetermination.
From now on, suggests the High Representative, we must consider that the acts of Russian power threaten “directly and long-term” the security of the Union and its defense architecture. Hence the need to invest more in military means and do it “better”, that is to say in a coordinated and effective way. Faced with what Mr. Borrell already described last year of “gross force”, it will also be necessary to make cohesion and political will. “The Ukrainian conflict has made it possible to bring the points of view closer to the countries of Central Europe and those of Western Europe, the three parties of the German coalition have given up some of their taboos and Emmanuel Macron, no doubt re-elected , may result in movement, “a diplomat rejoices.
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