Today's Date:

EU DEFENCE/NALTCHIK/NATO

THE MINISTER – Yes, I believe this quite simply shows what I often say, i.e. that there are still areas of great instability not that far from Europe. Our world hasn’t entered an era of peace. I’d say, on the contrary, that there are real risks. This morning, of course, we’re all thinking about what happened in Beslan, and we’re thinking, of course, about those children in particular. I think it’s too soon to draw any kind of conclusion. These events are sufficiently serious for us to wait for more information. I think we’ll get some in the course of the morning. And that’s when we’ll know what’s going on, also who is involved and the scale of the incidents and consequences of what began this morning.

THE MINISTER – No, certainly not. We’ll possibly come back to what may have motivated this statement from these former NATO generals.

But what I want to say very clearly is that, today, in the first place European defence exists, which wasn’t the case three years ago; secondly, no one in Europe is querying it. And, I believe this needs to be repeated, especially after the “no” votes in the two referenda halted movement towards the European Constitution. Indeed, I note that no one has questioned the idea of and progress made in European defence – this includes the “no” supporters, since I even heard, all through the campaign, that what the “no” supporters feared was European defence coming under NATO’s aegis and authority, which clearly meant they were in favour of European defence. And then, what’s also clear to me is that for three years we’ve been conducting operations: it was soldiers, with the European flag on their arm, who have been in Macedonia, and in Ituri. Every time these operations have gone very well.

EU DEFENCE INSTRUMENTS/EGF/1,500 BATTLE GROUPS

Since then, we’ve put instruments in place allowing us in future to act and do so more effectively: I’m thinking, for example, of the European Gendarmerie Force, a French initiative, which today exists, with a command located in Italy, a first commander, who is a French general, and which I think will be able to operate within the next few months in external theatres. We have given ourselves a very rapid intervention force, because it’s often essential to be able to intervene right at the start of a crisis: these are the Battle Groups, each with a force of at least 1,500 soldiers from different European countries deployable in less than 72 hours in a theatre of operation. And all 25 European Union countries have decided to participate in these.

EDA

There’s also the European Defence Agency, which is extremely important for developing our research and our industries, with all the jobs this represents. So these are considerable advances, which we need to reinforce and this is what I’m shortly going to be talking about in London. It’s indeed possible that this might not please everyone, and I can understand that today former NATO generals who were perhaps used to working only in the NATO framework – since three years ago, European defence wasn’t a concrete reality – are maybe trying to denigrate a number of efforts.

THE MINISTER – We decided to set up a planning and command cell, which is in place in Brussels. I’d say we are at the beginning of the process. I’d nevertheless point out that NATO has existed for several decades and that European defence, even though its principle, the determination to build it, was stated by Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair in Saint-Malo, used not to be a concrete reality. It has now been one for three years. So we do indeed have things to reinforce, we have to expand all this…

THREE DEFENCE “CIRCLES”

THE MINISTER – We know very well today that it’s no longer possible for any country to carry out every security task: including, for example, not just securing its own territory against terrorism, but also the security aspects involved in resolving a number of major crises, such as those the world is currently experiencing. So we have to be united and, from this point of view, European defence is a considerable step forward, since it provides far greater capabilities. There are two conditions for this: firstly, that all countries make the requisite budgetary effort to contribute to it; and secondly that there is, of course, recognition of the existence, for a number of countries, of areas in which their decision is sovereign. In other words, in a way, there are three circles: the “sovereignty” circle, which is fairly limited today – I’m thinking, for instance, of nuclear deterrence in our country; there are things we can pool at European level: the creation of European defence; and another circle, that of the Atlantic Alliance, NATO, where there are European, American, Canadian and also Turkish assets, which are brought together in the event of larger-scale operations.

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COTE D’IVOIRE

THE MINISTER – We are indeed extremely concerned about what’s happening in Côte d’Ivoire, because we feel the tension mounting: tension close to the Confidence Zone, tension too in Abidjan. Tension which for some people is political, and for others mostly stems from common law crime. People are regularly attacked, and there are protection rackets. The UN and French forces are also the subject of a number of acts of provocation. Indeed, all this makes us fear that when President Gbagbo’s term of office ought to end, i.e. on the scheduled election date, there may be an upsurge of violence. This is why the UNOCI [UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire] forces and French forces have envisaged a number of reinforcements, including the despatch of additional gendarmes and materiel./.