In Slovenia in an informal meeting, EU leaders talk about common defense, strategic autonomy and dossier energetic. No concrete decision emerged from the meeting, but a calendar which, in March 2022, could lead to the approval of a common defense plan.
"There are scenarios in which we don't see NATO" and "the EU may need to be able to act ”, were the words of the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
In Slovenia, on various issues and on common defense, the particular harmony between Mario Draghi ed Emmanuel Macron. The two saw each other in a bilateral bilateral meeting in which they reaffirmed full communion of intent in the main international dossiers.
During the dinner, the Italian premier had warned his colleagues that, on the common defense, "there is no more time to lose".
Argument that of the EU common defense that does not like, however, at the top of NATO: "An exclusively European mutual defense organization risks dividing and weakening the Atlantic Alliance", warned the secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. The White House echoed him directly: "A better European defense capability is in the interest of the US but should be complementary to NATO". This is also the line of the US secretary of state anthony blinken, who saw the Foreign Minister in Paris Luigi Di Maio, with whom he spoke about the many crucial issues on which there is synergy between Rome and Washington. They did not deal with the topic of the EU common defense.
To make the path of the common European defense difficult, however, there is the day-to-day relationship with NATO. For example, NATO for the Baltic countries is the natural defense from Russia and it is no coincidence that they appear among the most skeptical of the ambitious project.
The latest international events, from the Afghan crisis to the Aukus pact (Australia, England, USA), put serious reflection on EU members. So no more chatter. By December the EU is called to elaborate it Strategic Compass, the plan that will be the regulatory and political basis of the common defense. And that the EU Council, according to the Brussels timetable, should approve in March 2022.
Dragons on EU common defense
"If Europe does not have a common foreign policy it is very difficult for it to have a common defense", he explained for example Draghi underlining how military union can be reached within Europe or with inter-governmental alliances between member countries. "The first way is by far the preferable, because we would keep a supranational scheme“, The Italian premier remarked announcing that he will ask the commission for an ad hoc analysis on the options in the field.
While on the knot of the relationship with NATO Draghi it was clear: "I do not believe that anything born outside of NATO weakens NATO and weakens Europe". Draghi also lamented the marginality of EU countries within the Alliance, hoping for more effective coordination for common decisions and objectives.