CES & HSS: Taking Benefits from Synergies – Prospects for the European Defence Policy

On 30 March 2011 the Centre for European Studies and the Hanns Seidel Stiftung organised a conference on “Taking Benefits from Synergies – Prospects for the European Defence Policy”. Dr. Angelika Schlunk, Head of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union, welcomed all the distinguished speakers and guests and stressed the importance of the topic by referring to the current affairs in Libya, stating that closer cooperation is now more important than ever. She ended her opening remarks by expressing her pleasure to see that women are increasingly taking leading roles in defence policy, thus broadening the view of the policy area as a whole. She then gave the floor to Christian Forstner, Director of the Brussels Office of the Hanns Seidel Stiftung. Forstner welcomed everybody to the event and stated that the process of joint military cooperation has come a long way in Europe but that the current affairs in Libya proved that we still have an even longer way to go.

The key-note speeches were given by Michael Gahler, MEP and Member of the Bureau and Spokesperson on Security Policy of the EPP-Group in the European Parliament, and Lieutenant-General Guido Andries, Head of the Department of Strategy in the Belgian Ministry of Defence. Gahler started his speech by stating that although the situation in Libya is of the highest importance it should not be allowed to overshadow other, equally crucial, topics of discussion on defence policy.

He expressed his concern about the lack of unanimity by the European Union in the Security Council and fear that the German abstention threatened the future of defence cooperation in Europe. However, although Libya showed us that there is still a long way to go, there are already today a number of good initiatives. Synergies are on the rise on the infrastructural, tactical and coherent command levels. One example given by Gahler was the increase of civilian-military cooperation, as proposed by the Weimar Triangle. Lieutenant-General Andries shared his thoughts on the paradox that the European Union wants to play an increasing role on the global level and desires the ability to intervene when its values are threatened, on the one hand, and has been confronted with decreasing defence budgets on the other. The answer to this paradox lies in an increase of cooperation and harmonisation as determined in the Ghent framework, concluded by the Ministers of Defence in September 2010. As current cooperation mainly happens on a bilateral level, a great challenge awaits the European institutions according to Andries. As the moment for a new step towards closer military cooperation arises, the European institutions have the crucial task of streamlining this process and safeguarding compatibility.

Following the key note speeches there was a panel debate with Eduard Lintner, Former Secretary of State, Head of the Committee on Foreign Policy in the Working Group on Foreign and Security Policy of the CSU, Peter Scaruppe, Acting Industry and Market Director with the European Defence Agency and Major General Bernd Schulte-Berge, Head of the Department for Military policy at the Permanent Representation of Germany to NATO. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Dr. Peter Schmidt of the University of Mannhein. Lintner opened the debate by stating that the decreasing defence budgets and the increasing ambitions of the European Union did not match, with the result that in the near future the European Union will not be ready to step up to the plate and take on initiatives on its own. The help of the US and NATO are indispensible for the foreseeable future. Although the Lisbon treaty has set the course for further military cooperation, the path remains uncertain, according to Lintner, as defence is one of the most crucial aspects of a country’s sovereignty. Schulte-Berge offered his comments by stating that the EU and NATO have very different histories and goals. This being said, however, he noted that NATO welcomed closer cooperation with a unified Europe. Scaruppe agreed that decreasing defence budgets indeed pose a significant challenge, but that in this challenge lies great opportunity. Now more than ever it is the time to invest in better and closer cooperation.

After a lively panel discussion the floor was opened to the public. The first question addressed the soft power European Union versus hard power NATO and the recent evolution where both parties are trying to combine both sides. Schulte-Berge replied that it is only natural for a growing unified Europe to have greater ambitions towards hard power capabilities. The two organisations have overlapping fields of interest of course, but remain different in nature. However they are very complementary, thus ensuring the need for close cooperation between the EU and NATO. Closing remarks were offered by CES Deputy Director and Head of Research Roland Freudenstein, who in looking back at all the small steps that have been taken to achieve closer cooperation in defence, reminded everyone that we still have a long way to go.