Italy - with a letter signed by the Minister of Defense last September 20 Lorenzo Guerini - has officially communicated to France and to the countries already part of the initiative, the will to adhere to the "European Intervention Initiative EI2".
The Italian Government will therefore be willing to provide its peculiar national competence in the defense and security sector in the Mediterranean region.
"This initiative - commented Minister Guerini - it was born of a strong political will and intends to strengthen the EU and NATO, both indispensable for guaranteeing the security of Europe and the Europeans".
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom joined the initiative, led by France, established in June of the 2018 outside the framework of the European Union and NATO.
Probably the need to have a faster strategic structure is dictated by the fact that NATO's intervention capacity is very limited due to the slowness of decision-making processes. Between stiffs of opinions between the Commission and the Council and plenary vote with the triggering of various national "caveats", getting NATO to intervene in emergency situations is really difficult due to reaction times and capacities that are often not adequate to deploy.
For this reason the decision of nine member states of the European Union to agree on 25 June 2018 the intention to form a joint military intervention force designed to rapidly deploy all over the world.
The United States and NATO have already expressed concern in this regard. Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis at the time highlighted how the initiative could "wrest resources or capabilities from NATO".
According to the letter of intent, the European intervention initiative aims at creating a common strategic culture among the participating countries and wants to contribute to launching new dynamics that aim at a European defense capable of assuming greater responsibilities than facing contemporary threats and challenges.
Italy had worked closely with France and other countries to contribute to the precise definition of the initiative. The numerous exchanges with Rome aimed to provide all the guarantees necessary to respond to Italian concerns. But the previous Government Count the 25 June 2018 did not participate in the founding act of the initiative.
This was also due to the political orientation of the then majority who did not have good relations with France and the EU. Today, the majority changed, the Italian initiative in Europe has been relaunched and relations with France and Germany are re-established. By joining the initiative they could also open up new ones scenarios regarding the defense industry. It is no coincidence that France is now looking more carefully at the merger between Fincantieri and Stx-France, demonstrating a new impulse to make the agreement.
EI2 is an autonomous initiative, distinct from the EU and Pesco. In fact, the EI2 is a framework to be based on, in order to achieve a common strategic culture that, in the end, will contribute to Pesco (and NATO) by strengthening the Europeans' ability to work better together. Moreover, the EI2 has some variations within Pesco. His vocation is much broader. There will be a strong link between EI2 and Pesco, which will benefit each other.
Some Pesco projects of the first and second wave will obviously benefit EI2, in the field of military mobility or support for operations. However, the EI2 will not be merged within Pesco. This allows the unrestricted participation of militarily capable and politically available countries such as Denmark (whose renunciation of CSDP hinders any participation in Pesco). It also allows the participation of the United Kingdom which has not joined Pesco, and other countries in the future. Furthermore, the participation of these countries in the EI2 expands the number and relevance of the geographical areas of common interest.
Letter of Intent June, 25 2018
The contents of the Letter of Intent signed 25 June 2018
The strategic context
Europe is facing a highly unstable and uncertain strategic environment, subject to radical changes. It faces the greatest concentration of challenges since the end of the Cold War, including the growing terrorist threat, the severe migration crisis, the persistent vulnerability in its southern region, from the Mediterranean to the Sahel-Sahara region, the enduring destabilization in the Middle East, the resumption of war on its doors and the demonstrations of force on its territory, also deriving from the strategy of intimidation on its eastern side and the growing emergency of natural disasters.
These are destabilizing factors that need to be addressed to better protect our citizens and therefore European states must take greater responsibility for their own security, therefore the need to better coordinate efforts and promote the ability to better anticipate, prepare, plan and act together when and where needed.
This strategic assessment must be clear for European states willing to share the same security interests and actively support community efforts, including through new EU initiatives, in order to consolidate common strategic autonomy and freedom of decision and action, as well as strengthening NATO, which remains the foundation of collective defense.
Our states have consistently demonstrated their willingness and ability to deploy rapidly, in different contexts, demonstrating effective military capability and ability to act together in various scenarios across the range of potential conflicts and crises affecting Europe's security. The progress made in recent years in strengthening European defense has been significant. However, further measures need to be taken. Therefore we intend to develop together the European intervention initiative (EI2) in order to improve our collective strategic response.
Purposes of EI2
EI2 is a flexible and non-binding forum of European states that are able and willing to commit their military capabilities and forces when and where necessary to protect European interests and security, without prejudice to the chosen institutional framework (EU, NATO , United Nations or ad hoc coalitions).
The ultimate goal of EI2 is to develop a shared strategic culture, which will increase, as European states, the capacity to carry out missions and military operations within the framework of the EU, NATO, the United Nations and / or ad hoc coalitions. Intensifying and deepening contacts between EI2 participating States will facilitate future military commitments, which remain fully subject to national sovereign decisions in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.
In particular, the EI2 will allow better connections and closer cooperation between the armed forces of European states that are willing and able to carry out international military missions and operations.
The initiative will focus on better interaction in four main areas:
(1) strategic forecasting and intelligence sharing;
(2) scenario development and planning;
(3) operations support
(4) lessons learned and doctrine (sharing of experiences gained in the field and analysis of critical issues encountered).
EI2 will help strengthen bilateral defense relations as well as joint efforts conducted within key multilateral organizations such as the EU, NATO and the United Nations or ad hoc initiatives. EI2 intends to contribute to ongoing efforts within the European Union to deepen defense cooperation, particularly PESCO, and can strengthen and tap into the work conducted through the NATO Framework Nation Concept (FNC). It will not duplicate these efforts, but will complement them. EI2 will work to identify possible improvements for European defense, as well as the best institutional forum on how to achieve them, in order to be faster and more efficient. Denmark will fully respect the Danish opt-out from the EU's common security and defense policy.
The EI2 participating States will endeavor to ensure that EI2 secures PESCO objectives and projects to the maximum extent possible, taking into account national legal constraints and the issue of third party access to PESCO. While PESCO will inevitably produce beneficial effects for E12, we will try to identify, as soon as possible, significant areas of cooperation within the E12 framework that can merge with existing PESCO projects or establish new ones, for example in the field of operations support.Interviews between military personnel will provide regular assessments and recommendations in line with common security interests and possible actions.
E12 does not involve the creation of a new rapid reaction force. Considering that our nations have armed forces already engaged, E12 states will rely on existing rapid reaction / intervention forces, in line with appropriate decision making. E12 will not allocate national forces to its own response purposes.
E12 will strengthen our ability to work better together. It will strengthen the capacity of participating States to be better prepared for missions and operations conducted within the framework of the EU, NATO, United Nations or other ad hoc coalitions in which nations wish to engage their armed forces. It could also encourage the efficient deployment of existing and future military capabilities and units. The allocation of focuses from E12 participating States to specific missions and operations will always remain a sovereign national decision.
E12 will not burden resources. It will rely on existing structures and a network of liaison officers in the various military structures of the participating States.
In the end, thanks to a better mutual understanding of military needs, E12 will contribute to aligning the operational requirements of European states and therefore could facilitate the common development of capacity, using existing tools.
E12 will be open to other European states, willing to share the strategic objectives of the initiative, showing adequate commitment and operational capabilities.
Provisions for the development of the E12
By signing this letter of intent, we defense ministers of participating States guarantee our full support and involvement in E12 and our intention to contribute to the four agreed work areas.
In order to achieve the objectives of E12, we decide to set up a light permanent E12 secretariat in Paris based on the French staff and on the existing network of national liaison officers in the various military structures of the French Ministry of Defense (possibly supplemented by national voluntary contributions) , supervise the policy and objectives and coordinate actions along the different lines of cooperation.
We, the defense ministers of the participating States, order our staff to begin drafting an EI2 memorandum of understanding as soon as possible, detailing the modalities of the participation of each member state.