The
almost-an-EU-army plan
Italy
opens a new front in the debate over EU defense cooperation.
By JACOPO BARIGAZZI
9/27/16, 6:02 PM CET Updated 9/27/16, 8:19 PM CET
BRATISLAVA — Italy
added a new twist Tuesday to Europe’s debate over how far EU
countries should go on defense cooperation, calling for a coalition
of member countries willing to establish a joint permanent military
force.
The proposal from
Italy’s defense and foreign affairs ministers, Roberta Pinotti and
Paolo Gentiloni, stops just short of calling for an EU army — an
idea other countries including the U.K. have argued strenuously
against.
But by pushing for a
“Union of European Defense” that would include a permanent
European force, the Italian proposal still goes further than many
other countries have shown an eagerness to do.
It was presented
during an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in the Slovak
capital, where countries tried to find sometimes elusive common
ground on military cooperation. Britain’s defense minister, Michael
Fallon, arrived at the meeting reiterating London’s opposition not
only to an EU army, but also to plans for a common military
headquarters for the bloc’s coordinated operations.
The Italian idea
builds on a proposal the two ministers made in August in a joint
letter calling for a “Schengen of defense,” a coded wording that
means to start establishing cooperation outside the EU treaties. It
also comes after France and Germany made their own joint call to
enhance defense cooperation without going so far as creating an “EU
army.”
Rome’s new push
comes after Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, was critical of
other EU leaders after a summit earlier this month in which European
countries pledged to work together on defense and security. Renzi
felt other leaders were not being bold enough.
The new Italian
proposal, contained in a document obtained by POLITICO, says
“available member states willing to share forces, command and
control, maneuver and enabling capabilities, could establish a joint
permanent European Multinational Force (EMF).”
The EMF would be
“permanently offered” to the European headquarters for military
and civilian operations — an idea currently being discussed among
member countries — and “will represent the initial nucleus of a
future European integrated force.”
But the Italian
proposal also stresses that “these efforts should not detract
resources from ongoing commitments within NATO” — a common
complaint from critics of greater EU defense capabilities.
The EU’s foreign
policy chief, Federica Mogherini, downplayed any divisions among
countries over how far to go in coordinating military operations,
saying they would focus on “concrete, operational, pragmatic steps
that we can take within the existing treaties.”
She said after the
meeting that, despite British concerns voiced in public about the EU
defense cooperation plans, “all 28” member countries agreed to
work together “to make sure it moves forward as much as we can, as
long as we can at 28.”
Financial incentives
The Italian proposal
also addresses doubts about whether EU countries would be willing to
spend more on defense, calling for “fiscal and financial incentives
to European military cooperative projects aimed at achieving needed
capabilities” including tax breaks and loans to help countries bear
the cost of new military spending.
The proposal caught
some EU diplomats off-guard Tuesday. Some said it ventured too close
to an EU army idea that is opposed by London. Others said that by
going it alone on this issue Italy risks showing how isolated it is
on EU reform matters.
But Pinotti, the
Italian defense minister, stressed that Rome’s proposal stopped
short of calling for an EU army.
“Nobody has
actually talked about an EU army,” Pinotti said. “If we aim at
this it is the wrong objective.”
Pinotti also said
her views were in line with those of her colleagues.
“This morning in a
breakfast I have had with French and German colleagues we have agreed
that their document has many points in common with the one I have
written with minister Gentiloni,” she told POLITICO.
“Also in the
meeting today many ministers have backed both the German-French
document and the Italian one. There is no will to go ahead alone,
it’s an Italian document that keeps together the vision of the
[Italian] foreign and defense ministries.”
Pinotti added that
the Italian ideas on funding of defense ambitions were similar to a
proposal for a defense fund put forward by French President François
Hollande.
Even though the
specifics of how to boost funding were different, she said, the
Italian proposal “goes in the same direction to strengthen also in
terms of funding the setting up of a European defense… and there is
a consensus.”
Authors:
Jacopo Barigazzi
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário