EU Foreign Policy Chief: Europe Is in danger
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, will stress, according to a draft, that the US-led NATO remains primarily responsible for the common defense of Europe.
According to extracts from a draft obtained by Reuters, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, is set to warn the union on Wednesday about the need to agree on an ambitious doctrine as the basis for joint military action abroad. The doctrine should include a deployable crisis force.
Borrell will present to his fellow European commissioners the first draft of this "Strategic Compass," which is the closest the EU can have to a military doctrine and is similar to the NATO "Strategic Concept" that defines the alliance's goals.
According to a preliminary draft, the EU foreign policy chief will announce that "Europe is in danger." He will stress that the US-led NATO remains primarily responsible for the common defense of Europe.
EU training and assistance missions are modest in size
Although European countries have highly trained soldiers, cyber, naval, and air capabilities, resources are being duplicated [unneccesarly] across 27 militaries, while EU training and assistance missions are modest in size.
Just as member states lack the logistical, command & control capabilities of the United States, they cannot match them in intelligence gathering.
A separate threat assessment is classified, but diplomats point to the fractured states on Europe's borders as areas where the EU needs to send peacekeepers or evacuate citizens. EU foreign and defense ministers will discuss the issue on Monday, aiming to agree on a final policy document in March.
Brexit deprived the EU of military power
With the blessing of US President Joe Biden in an announcement with French President Emmanuel Macron last month, the EU saw it could be a more useful ally for the US if it develops stand-alone military capabilities.
Although Brexit deprived the EU of military power, it gave Paris an opportunity to advance its ambitions to take a greater role in EU defense with Berlin.
Diplomats say there are many warning signs, including former US President Donald Trump's "America First" policy, which undermined EU priorities.
The EU has yet to deploy battalion-sized battle groups in crisis, although progress has been made in establishing a joint defense fund to jointly develop arms since late 2017.
Borrell said, "we have a strategic responsibility. Citizens want to be protected. Soft power is not enough," talking about the EU, the world's largest trade bloc.
"All the threats we face are intensifying, and the capacity of individual member states to cope is insufficient and declining," Borrell said in the foreword to the draft.