Brussels, 21 March 2023
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Good morning to everybody,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you to all of you for joining this first-ever Schuman Forum, our new Security and Defence [Forum].
Thank you to the European Parliament, dear David [McAllister, Chair of the AFET Committee] for hosting us.
I see in this room many Ministers from the 27 European Union Member States, and from more than 50 partners around the world.
Many of your countries contribute in one way or another to our 21 civilian and military [EU] missions and operations deployed around the world. And with most of your countries, the European Union holds regular security and defence dialogues.
But the reasons to organise this Forum – and thanks once again for being here with us – go deeper than that. There are at least three issues, or three questions, that I would like to raise with you in this opening session.
First, why do we need partners?
Second, what can the European Union offer to our partners?
And third, what can we do together?
So, [the] first question: why do we need partners? The answer looks obvious.
We are more than one year [since the start of] Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine which has been a blatant violation of the rules-based international order.
And vote after vote at the United Nations, we have seen states rallying behind a call for a ‘just peace’. Not just for peace, [but] for a just peace, and for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and respect its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Our collective support to Ukraine has been impressive and must continue so that Ukraine and the international law prevail.
But the core rationale for why we need partners goes beyond Ukraine.
Yesterday, some of our Ministers told us: “You make a lot of phone calls about Ukraine.” Yes – but not only about Ukraine. What matters, what worries us goes much further than Ukraine.
We know that no one, no country, acting alone, can address challenges [such] as the weakening of multilateralism, the return of power politics across the world, the renewed assertiveness of authoritarian regimes, and the mix of conventional and hybrid threats that we are facing.
The consequences of climate change and the increased competition over natural resources that will go and go – from the Arctic to the Sahel region.
On all those fronts, we need partners. And to partner is deeply rooted in the DNA of the European Union. Because we, ourselves, the European Union is based on cooperation among partners. Every European Union policy – including defence – is the result of cooperation.
We changed the logic of confrontation by the logic of cooperation. So it is logical that we see partnerships as an essential part of our security and defence agenda.
Just a few weeks – even days – after the start of Russia’s aggression against of Ukraine, European leaders adopted what we called the Strategic Compass which is an ambitious plan to strengthen our security and defence policy on the horizon of the next 5 to 10 years.
The fact that this Compass includes a full chapter devoted to partnerships is a clear message: we regard our security and defence agenda on the one hand, and our cooperation with partners on the other hand, as mutually reinforcing.
Well, to answer the first question was quite easy. It was quite evident.
The second question is a little bit more difficult: how do we translate this principle into practice? What can the European Union offer? What and how?
Let me remind you, let me think about the past because it is maybe something that not many people know. The story of the European Union security and defence started about 20 years ago. It is not something that we invented after the war in Ukraine started. 20 years ago, we deployed our first military operations in the Western Balkans and then in Africa.
And after, it has [been] followed [by] two decades of engagement deploying over 40 missions across all continents, up to the most recent missions for Ukraine [EUMAM Ukraine], certainly, but also for Armenia [EU Mission in Armenia] and Niger [EUMPM Niger].
But it is fair to say that our response to the war in Ukraine in particular, has changed the way we – in Europe – regard our own security and defence agenda.
At the same time, it has changed the way you – our partners – regard our agenda, and the opportunities that it may offer.
I can say that our resolve and our actions have surprised many. We did not let Russia divide us. On the contrary, we have been – and we continue being – united, more united than ever.
We have adopted 10 sanctions packages to exert a maximum collective pressure on Russia.
We have cut our dependence on Russian oil and gas in a matter of months. Frankly, no one could imagine that we would be able to do it, but we did it.
We have mobilised €3.6 billion so far under the European Peace Facility (EPF) to support Ukraine with military equipment. We have broken a taboo by financing the supply of weapons to a country at war, using not the resources of the European Union budget but our community resources.
We have a deployed a training mission [EU Military Assistance Mission Ukraine] to train up to 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers before the end of 2023.
Now we are working to jointly procure equipment and artillery ammunition to replenish our stocks and to deliver more support to Ukraine to defend itself, and ramping [up] the [production] capacities of our defence industry which is key.
I think that putting all these things together represents an unprecedented effort for the European Union that was not foreseen.
And I know from my visits around the world, and with my discussions with many of you, that this new European Union security and defence agenda has raised interest and opened avenues for new forms of cooperation.
Many partners – from Africa to the Middle East and our Eastern neighbourhood – are increasingly asking for support in areas such as geospatial intelligence through our [EU] Satellite Centre, cyber resilience, strategic communication but also lethal equipment.
Navies in the Americas, in the Middle East and Asia are increasingly interested to conduct joint activities with our naval operations. Let me mention Operation [EUNAVFOR] ATALANTA that has a very good track on this – with naval exercises conducted with Japan, with India and Oman to name a few.
So, this brings me to the third question, the really important question towards the future: what can we do together? That is why we are here.
Decades of security and defence partnerships have shown us that we have to be humble, flexible and pragmatic.
We need to listen to each other and to do ‘lessons learned’. Yesterday, one Minister was saying to us: “it is not a matter of not sharing the same values. Yes, we share the same values, but maybe we do not share the same priorities, and you do not take our priorities enough into [consideration]”.
Well, maybe. So, let’s be humble, flexible and pragmatic and take into consideration the priorities of all our partners, and go for tailored approaches that reflect the realities of the country or the region we are dealing with.
Last year, we adopted the Strategic Compass, [and as] I said, there are a concrete number of new objectives. Allow me to mention some of them, on which I would like to hear your views today.
The first one [is that] we have to enhance the effectiveness of our civilian and military missions and operations in supporting our partners. We have to increase the effectiveness of what we do.
We have drawn lessons from the challenges we face in the Central African Republic and in Mali. In both countries, our missions were not sufficiently backed by an effort to equip our partners.
And the Wagner group, which is a ruthless proxy of the Russian regime, has used this to its advantage. With the devastating results that we know for the local people and their security.
So, we need to adjust our way of working.
The Strategic Compass foresees the adaptation of our model of military missions. It should allow us to meet our partners’ expectations with more targeted training and equipment – more targeted and more partnerships. For example, the new training mission in Niger is going to be an [EU] Military Partnership Mission. It was launched last month with a focus on maintenance and logistics, with a light but scalable footprint.
We also want to apply more systematically the ‘train and equip model’ – not only ‘train’ – to our civilian missions. This approach has already been providing good results in Niger and Somalia.
We are now preparing a new mission in the Republic of Moldova to strengthen the country’s capacity to counter hybrid threats.
Second, we use a broad understanding of security and want to put more emphasis on prevention.
Let me cite the case of the Gulf of Guinea. We do not have to run behind the crisis, but to prevent the crisis from happening.
The Gulf of Guinea is a case in point. They need an urgent support to tackle the spill over of the terrorist threat from the Sahel region.
Instead of large military training missions, we need small, agile teams of experts and trainers – from the military but also from the police – that could be deployed quickly to address specific requests for targeted trainings, advice, intelligence or equipment. Our planners are currently visiting the countries in the region to put this new approach in motion.
Prevention is also increasingly guiding our civilian missions. Earlier this year, we established a civilian monitoring mission in Armenia [EU Mission in Armenia], in the areas of the border with Azerbaijan. The aim is to contribute to build confidence between the two parties through a permanent and visible European Union presence on the ground.
Third, we want to maximise the potential of the European Peace Facility. Nobody was expecting that, but history has made the European Peace Facility a real game changer for our missions and operations, and our relations with our partners.
We used the European Peace Facility so much during its first year of existence – over €4.5 billion allocated [so far] -, that the Council already had to replenish it last December. And I am sure they will have to do it again. Without a doubt, it has been a crucial instrument to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But, once again, it is not just about Ukraine. The EPF is a global instrument. It has enabled us to support African peace operations – from Somalia to Mozambique, from the Lake Chad to the Sahel region – as well as individual partners from Georgia and Moldova to Niger, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Lebanon and Jordan.
We will continue doing that. We know that our partners are increasingly interested in lethal support. Yes, what we have done for Ukraine can and will be done for others. The first assistance measure to provide lethal equipment for African partners – Niger and Somalia – will be adopted soon.
With that, the European Peace Facility can act as a structured and transparent trust fund, for the international support for Ukraine, for example. This is how a partner like Norway understands it. Thank you to Norway for channeling your support through the European Peace Facility and for contributing with personnel to the European Union Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine that – as I said – will train 30,000 soldiers by the end of the year.
Fourth, as we strengthen our own resilience and we are ready to help our partners to build their own.
We underlined that cyber, hybrid warfare, foreign interference and manipulation of information are critical dimensions of our partnerships.
We need and we want to strengthen our cyber dialogues with key partners such as the United States first, but also Japan and South Korea, to compare intelligence and coordinate sanctions against perpetrators of cyber-attacks. This will be more and more necessary because these cyber-attacks will happen more and more often.
For example, Russia’s cyber-attack on the satellite communications provider Viasat, just before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, had far-reaching consequences. We were quick to coordinate our response with the United States and other key partners within the G7.
Soon, we will also be able to dispatch hybrid rapid response teams to address requests from our partners to identify vulnerabilities, investigate and provide concrete support.
Fifth – and I am finishing: we want to train and exercise with our partners, starting this year with the maritime domain.
We have the right tools to do so. Operation [EUNAVFOR] ATALANTA has already developed from an anti-piracy off the coasts of Somalia into a broader maritime security operation, covering a larger spectrum of tasks in a much larger theatre. First, it was against piracy in the coast of Somalia, now it is a full security provider for the maritime roads along the coast of Africa.
The last few months ATALANTA seized large volumes of drugs, depriving al-Shabaab from major revenues.
We are developing a second Coordinated Maritime Presence in the North Western Indian Ocean, building on the first experience in the Gulf of Guinea. We hope that it will enable cooperation through port calls and common exercises with countries in both regions.
We organise live maritime exercises with partners. At the end of March, two ATALANTA frigates will undertake exercises with a US destroyer. We want to do the same with Japan and Canada soon.
We also remain active in the Indo-Pacific on maritime and other security issues with ASEAN. We have set up a concrete project on ‘Enhancing security cooperation in and with Asia’.
Sixth, we want to see our defence initiatives paving the way for enhanced cooperation with partners.
We have opened our PESCO projects on military mobility to Canada, to Norway, to the United States – and more recently to the United Kingdom.
If you look at the European Defence Fund, a number of participants in our industrial programmes are controlled by non-EU entities. As long as they fulfil our criteria, our partners are invited to join our defence initiatives.
This is a perfect illustration of our commitment to work with NATO Allies, in the spirit of our joint EU-NATO declarations.
But it is not just NATO. A new number of partners – from Norway, to Ukraine, to Serbia – can enjoy a cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA).
As you can see from all these examples, we are committed to shaping mutually beneficial partnerships [both] at the bilateral and regional level.
Yes, the war in Ukraine has tested the solidity of the relationship between the European Union and NATO. And the result is clear: our cooperation is stronger than ever.
Our political unity is rock-solid. Our efforts at all levels are closely coordinated and mutually reinforcing. And in the field, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo and Iraq, we are working hand-in-hand.
This cooperation is equally valued with the United Nations in all theatres where our missions are deployed – especially in Africa. The United Nations can count on us and our continued support – from political and operational coordination to information sharing and satellite imagery. All kinds of coordination is open to the United Nations.
We also want to do that also with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the African Union and the ASEAN.
Dear colleagues,
It has been a broad travel through what we want to do with the European defence projects. Our security and defence agenda is broad and we are developing our capacities fast.
Because the world’s needs and the security challenges we are facing are also growing – they are enormous.
So, we need to work more together. And be smart and creative. Together, we are stronger.
This all begins by thinking clearly and listening to each other carefully.
This is our purpose. That is why I invite you to do today: stating your views, your needs, your expectations, your concerns.
This is the purpose of this Schuman Forum.
I want to thank you again for being here. And let me also – again – thank the European Parliament. Once upon a time, I was President of this House, and I could never imagine that one day, I was going to be here, pushing for something such important as the European defence capabilities in a challenging world.
Thank you for providing us with this great venue for our debates. Thank you to all of you for being here. I am sure there are a lot of things that we can do together.
Thank you.
Link to the video (starting from 2:45): https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238823
Source – EEAS
Schuman Security and Defence Forum: Press remarks by EU HRVP Borrell at the press conference
Brussels, 21 March 2023
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We have just concluded the first edition of the Security and Defence Forum – the Schuman Forum. It is one of the commitments that we took with the Strategic Compass.
We said we had to develop partnerships. We are not alone, we need partners. And one of the ways of building partnerships was this Forum. And we do that just on the first anniversary of the [Strategic] Compass.
The [Strategic] Compass was adopted one year ago – more or less – and we have called for the Schuman Security and Defence Forum. One year [later], we are on schedule.
The reason for this Forum is simple, for us – Europeans. We have to understand and to make it understandable to our partners.
We need partners because we cannot face our challenges alone. The challenges we are facing in today’s world – after the war in Ukraine, after the [COVID-19] pandemic, in front of climate change, in front of the financial crisis, in front of everything – require partnerships.
And with the Schuman Forum, we have brought together our Member States and representatives from 50 countries and international organisations from Europe, America, Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf, Asia and the Pacific. We have covered the whole world and I am very happy and thankful to all of them for coming here.
And in addition, representatives from 50 think tanks and academia – from Europe and beyond. So, around 127 actors: 27 Member States, around 50 partners, 50 think tanks and academia.
The purpose of the Forum was to listen to each other. We, Europeans, have to be much more in ‘listening mode’ and to be receptive and to discuss how we can improve our cooperation in addressing common security challenges.
After talking with many of our partners today, I think I can say – honestly – that they want us to be more engaged. They want [us] to be more with them, more present and more active. They want to really see the European Union as a global security and defence actor.
But to be that, we have to develop our capabilities. And I said several times, and I want to repeat it: the High Representative it is not only the High Representative for Foreign Policy, it is also [the High Representative] for Security and Defence Policy – and I am taking very seriously this second part of my job.
I am working a lot in order to develop the defence and security part [and] capability of the European Union.
I am strongly convinced that Europe has to be a reliable security and defence partner, and for that it has to increase its own capacities.
Allow me to say that we are already doing a lot. When I have a look at what we are doing, and when I talk to our partners, I see that we are doing more than what people know or perceive.
There are close to 300 civilian and military personnel from our partner countries participating in our missions. There are 5,000 people deployed around the world in [our] 21 missions and operations. Well, there 300 of these 5,000 [people] who are not Europeans, who are coming from our partners.
We have regular security dialogues with [more than] 20 partners from all continents. Regularly, we have defence dialogues with [more than] 20 [partners].
We have [been] exercising with several of them – with Japan, with India, with Oman, with the Republic of Korea.
Through the European Peace Facility (EPF), we are supporting our partners with military equipment, from Africa to the Western Balkans, from the Middle East to the Caucasus. Yes, Ukraine is overshadowing everything, because Ukraine is a high intensity war. But apart from that, we are providing military equipment – as I said – from the Western Balkans to Africa, from the Middle East to the Caucasus.
In our PESCO projects, many of our partners are participating, also with the European Defence Agency, and I am happy to know that we have finalised our administrative arrangements with the US in order for the US to participate in our projects.
So, it is important to mention all that because we are not starting from zero, we have a certain degree of engagement already.
We want to do more. Yes, we want to do more.
We want to develop military capabilities to respond to high intensity threats, as Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine has proved.
And we have to recover the fact that in the last 20 years, Europe has been decreasing its military capacities, its defence capabilities – dividing by two their [military] expenditures and dividing by four the production of ammunition. We have to recover [from] this.
We want to work together to strengthen collective resilience and address hybrid threats, foreign information manipulation, cyber threats. We repeat these names: cyber, hybrid, disinformation, but believe me these are the battlefields of the future.
It is not only about conquering lands, it is about conquering minds. And this battle has to be fought.
We have to protect our maritime space and increase cooperation at sea. We will not have the Sixth Fleet like the United States – or the Seventh Fleet – but we can mobilise and coordinate better what we have in order to fight against organised crime, piracy, smuggling, increasing our maritime infrastructure to be security providers in the Eastern coast of Africa as the natural evolution of a mission which at the beginning was to fight against piracy. Now, piracy is not there anymore but there are still other kinds of challenges: smuggling of drugs and human beings.
For that, we have to exercise more together [also] on land, cooperate more closely. Our CSDP missions [and operations] have to be open to all our partners.
[We have to] deepen our cooperation on the resilience agenda.
[We have to develop] more [the] ‘train and equip’ [approach] – not only ‘train’. Equipment is key – even for the lethal equipment but the non-lethal [equipment] is also important.
[We have to] support the United Nations Charter.
Well, I think that the Schuman Forum has sent a clear message, that we are very much serious about it and we want to engage more. And it will come with other sessions next year – it is a work in progress. Every long travel starts with a first step, and this was the first one.
I am happy, and very thankful to the people who have made it possible.
Charles [Fries, EEAS Deputy Secretary-General for Peace, Security and Defence], thank you very much to you and to your team.
Thanks also to the people who accepted this invitation. It has gone much further than our expectations: 50 countries, 50 organisations. More than 100 participants – [that is] good.
It has been short but intense.
We will do it again.
Thank you.
Q&A
Q: Il y a une double expression qui résume bien le sentiment du Global South par rapport à ce que l’Europe a conduit comme politique de soutien légitime à l’Ukraine, qui est : La compassion avec le peuple ukrainien parce qu’il souffre. Deuxièmement, le ressentiment, monsieur le haut représentant, car pendant cette année 2021-2022 et 2023 maintenant, on a l’impression que l’Europe découvre que le droit international peut avoir des aspects quasi sacrés quand on vous voit défendre l’Ukraine, à juste titre. Alors, est-ce que depuis cette année et pendant ce forum, vous avez sentis que vos diplomates, les ministres que vous présidez – comme [cela a été le cas] hier -, leur mental a changé un peu et qu’ils saisissent bien ce que ça veut dire que le double standard est quelque chose qui n’est pas uniquement inacceptable [mais] qui est de plus en plus insupportable pour le Sud ? Autrement, c’est votre crédibilité qui est toujours en jeu. Je n’ai pas besoin de mentionner des exemples d’acteurs régionaux, internationaux, qui apparaissent de plus en plus voire même dans l’environnement de l’Union européenne et dans son voisinage. Est-ce que le mental européen a changé par rapport à cette question du double standard que vous avez pratiqué en Europe – bien sûr, évidemment, les Etats-Unis, etc – par rapport à des conflits qui durent depuis des décennies, à savoir le conflit palestinien ou autre ?
Pour répondre à la première question, il faudrait que je fasse une conférence. Mais je comprends bien ce que vous voulez dire.
La guerre en Ukraine, c’est une guerre de haute intensité. Une guerre qui mobilise des ressources financières et militaires à une échelle qui n’a rien à voir avec l’échelle de nos missions militaires d’entrainement ou pour faire face à des guerres hybrides qui sont – par définition – des guerres qui n’ont pas l’intensité militaire de la guerre d’Ukraine.
Quand on fait face à une guerre de haute intensité, le contraste avec les autres évènements est plus évident. C’est bien évident. Et je comprends bien qu’il y a des acteurs qui disent que votre mobilisation vis-à-vis de l’Ukraine a été beaucoup plus rapide, beaucoup plus intense, beaucoup plus engagée que celle que vous avez eu avec nous.
Et c’est vrai. [Tout] d’abord, la guerre en Ukraine, c’est une menace existentielle pour l’Europe. Elle a lieu dans nos territoires, près de chez nous. On est quand même des êtres humains – on ressent beaucoup plus près ce qui nous touche de plus près.
Mais ça, oui, ça nous a fait prendre conscience du fait qu’il y a d’autres conflits dans le monde dont on ne percevait pas leur intensité dramatique de la même façon – parce que ça ne nous touchait pas de façon assez directe.
Et aujourd’hui, on a entendu des phrases qui sont, à mon avis, très importantes. Par exemple, de dire que ce n’est pas qu’on ne partage pas les mêmes valeurs, c’est qu’on ne partage pas les mêmes priorités, a dit la ministre sénégalaise [des affaires étrangères, Tall Sall Aissata]. Ô comme c’est vrai, non ? Vous ne partagez pas les mêmes priorités parce que vous êtes dans des situations différents.
Donc, il faut faire un effort pour se mettre à la place de l’autre. Il faut être un petit peu plus ‘Shopenhaueriste’. [Arthur] Shopenhauer disait : “C’est la position de l’observateur qui détermine le phénomène observé.” C’est la position qui détermine le phénomène qu’on observe donc il faut savoir se mettre dans la position d’autres observateurs.
Et moi, j’ai appris beaucoup de la réaction que la guerre en Ukraine a produit chez nos partenaires. Et il faut prendre ça d’une façon positive, pour mieux nous engager avec eux.
Q: High Representative, we heard today from the National Security Minister of Ghana [Albert Kan-Dapaah] [that] he asked and called on the European Union to partner with West African countries to address human security challenges. He said: “We are not asking for free money from partners but rather a funding mechanism.” The European Union has some actions in place in West Africa, but clearly, we are hearing from the region that it is not enough. How would you respond to that call from the Minister in Ghana? What more can be done in the region, which is obviously experiencing many security challenges?
J’ai eu une réunion bilatérale avec le ministre [de la sécurité nationale] du Ghana, et on a bien discuté du ‘do ut des’ – qu’il ne faut pas non plus arriver avec le carnet de chèques en croyant que parce que vous faites une contribution financière ponctuelle, vous trouvez une solution au problème. Non, il faut d’abord savoir ce qu’ils attendent de nous. Ce n’est pas seulement arriver avec notre ‘recipe’ (recette). Chaque problème a sa solution et sans doute, ce qui arrive aujourd’hui dans le golfe de Guinée demande une approche sur-mesure. On ne peut pas avoir la même solution partout – la grande mission d’entrainement militaire. Comme on l’a dit, il faut faire du sur-mesure. Il faut être plus agile, plus flexible, plus rapide et agir beaucoup plus en partenariat.
Le mot clé qui ressort de cette journée c’est la volonté de travailler en partenariat. On ne peut pas arriver avec nos recettes en croyant que parce que c’est les nôtres, elles ont une valeur universelle.
Q: I have a question about the relation between Russia and China because speaking about security and defence, we cannot not talk about that. Yesterday, President [of China] Xi [Jinping] called Putin “his dear friend”, and he said that he is sure that the Russian population will support Putin in his next election. How worried are you about that? Do you think that China already chose the side of Russia in this war with Ukraine? What do you plan to do with that, if so?
There is nothing new. President Xi [Jinping] signed with President Putin the treaty of ‘Unlimited friendship’ just some days before the [start of the] war in Ukraine. So, the position of China has not changed.
Q: But the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) did not change it? It is supposed to change it, no? According to the ICC, Putin is a war criminal already. Did you expect it would change something between them?
It will change. As I said the other day, Russia says that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the end is a completely powerless organisation, [and] they do not recognise [so] whatever they say, it does not matter. Yes, it matters. It matters because the ICC is an organisation that has been recognised by – I think – more or almost 130 countries around the world. And if President Putin goes to one of these 130 countries, he should be arrested on the spot. It is a big difference.
- Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238826
Source – EEAS
Schuman Security and Defence Forum: Closing speech by EU HRVP Borrell
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These final remarks are not final because there is still a lot of work to be done.
But the Schuman [Security and Defence] Forum is coming to an end. It has been a short but dense meeting.
We wanted it to be short – it will grow. In future editions, it will last longer in order to have more time to discuss among us ourselves.
But at least today, it has been a good occasion to share among all of us. Thank you for coming, thank you for joining us in Brussels.
It is clear that people here support and are united behind the rules-based international order, with the United Nations at its core. This is something that united all of us.
We know that, in order to make the United Nations continue working at the core of the international system, we need to protect it, we need to defend it and to make it stronger.
We also know that partnerships is not a dependence. It is a strength: becoming partner makes us stronger. It is not a dependence, it is a strength.
And we know also that we need to tailor our mutually beneficial partnerships, in order to be really benefiting to both sides. And this will help us to fulfil our international responsibilities.
I want to send you a message: the European Union was born in order to solve intra-European problems. The European Union came from the ashes of the war, from an awful war. Europe almost committed suicide. We were killing each other so much that, at the end, we decided that peace had to be done – and we did [it].
But it was an issue among ourselves at a moment where the world was divided in two blocks – the Cold War – and the world was still not globalised. We were born in the fifties.
Later, the Cold War finished, and the world became global. And now the European Union has to do something more than just making peace among Europeans, but to be an actor in the world that could contribute to a better world.
Now, the European Union has to take their responsibilities. When I am talking about responsibilities, I am saying that we have to take [this] seriously, to make European defence stronger and more effective.
We want to become a stronger and more valuable partner. Inside NATO for sure, but with the rest of the world – with everybody that wants to contribute to a peaceful and prosperous world.
When I was listening to some of you, in bilaterals and to all of you in the plenary session, I think that there are at least six issues on which I would like to send a message.
First, the war effort that the Europeans are doing in Ukraine has changed our profile, our brand. The European Union looks different.
A number of partners, that have seen what we have done, expect us to be as fast and as efficient in responding [to] their requests. “What you have done for Ukraine, your efforts, your capacities, your will, the way you have reacted, united, quickly, engaging your resources – political, financial, diplomatic -, we expect you to do the same thing for us.”
And this is a request that has to be answered. This is a new endeavour for us.
For example, on operational training or supporting our partners in critical domains such as intelligence, logistics, cyber and hybrid warfare. We must be able to meet those expectations, and to pursue a ‘train and equip’ approach I was talking [about] at the beginning.
Second, I heard calls from many partners for the delivery of lethal equipment under the European Peace Facility (EPF).
And as a matter of fact, we are working to start delivering such equipment to our African partners in the coming months. To assist Niger with ammunition for helicopters – [that is] one example. To assist Somalia with ammunition for training purposes.
Yes, what we have done using the European Peace Facility to provide lethal equipment to a country at war should, and could, and will be done in supporting other partners in other conflicts around the world.
Third, by definition, [a] partnership has to be a two-way street. And I would like to see more partners participating in our missions and operations abroad.
Many are already doing that: Georgia, Serbia or Chile. When I see Chilean soldiers in our operation in Sarajevo, then I say “Good. This is the global approach. If Chile can feel engaged in participating in peacekeeping in the Balkans, it means that we are building a world community.” You have made remarkable contributions over the past decades. And Morocco and Jordan have already negotiated the legal framework to allow them to do the same. And partners in Sub-Saharan Africa may express [their] interest too.
So, please: our missions and operations are open to your participation, and it can only be good for all of us. The doors are open, and I hope that we can take this discussion forward.
Fourth, on top of our long-lasting cooperation with international and regional organisations, we must acknowledge the contributions that individual partners – from Asia [to] Africa – can make. Bilaterally, as contributors to peace operations, be it under the United Nations or the African Union umbrella for example.
And we should offer targeted support to individual partners, as we do with Rwanda for their very effective operation in Mozambique.
We cannot go there, putting our boots on the ground, but we can support [by] targeting operators that show an extraordinary efficiency – as Rwanda is showing in Mozambique.
Fifth, I see that there is a growing appetite for joint exercises.
Our Operation [EUNAVFOR] ATALANTA has a long history of naval exercises with partners in the North Western Indian Ocean. I trust that this will continue and intensify, and [that] other European Union navy assets will do the same in other regions, such as in the Gulf of Guinea. I invite everybody interested in participating in this coordinated naval presence in many places – the Gulf of Guinea is one of them, mainly today, after Somalia, the most challenging and important one.
The first European Union Livex is scheduled before the end of the year, during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It will be the first, [and] more will come.
Last but not least: this Schuman Forum should not be a one-off event. You came, we discuss, you leave – and that is over. No, my ambition is to make it a regular event. To keep pressure on ourselves to ensure a concrete follow-up.
As I said at the beginning, the European Union is taking seriously its role in the world in which we are living which is not at all the world of 1945. Not even the world of the end of the last century. It is a completely different one. And in this new world, we can do more and better.
That is why, I invite you to the next Schuman Forum. We schedule to do it once every two years, but let’s do it by the end of the next year before the end of my mandate. It will be a good occasion to see you again and continue working together – even when another team will come and replace us. Because the spirit of Europe has to continue developing for the years to come.
So, thank you very much for coming here. Thank you to the European Parliament for having hosted us today in its premises. Thank you to the people of the [European] External Action Service (EEAS) who has been behind the organisation of this event.
And see you soon at the next Schuman Forum.
- Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238825
Source – EEAS