The European Union wants to provide a “strategic compass” in security and defense policy by March 2022. This was announced by EU Council President Charles Michel on Friday at the end of the video summit of heads of state and government. This is to make it clearer what role the EU should play in defense matters. It is controversial, for example, whether and to what extent one should act independently of NATO and the USA. Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) pushed the fight against terror.
Image: APA (AFP)
Michel said that the compass should determine what exactly the EU should and should not be able to do in a crisis. The basis for the work on the compass is a threat analysis completed at the end of 2020. The secret document describes, among other things, based on intelligence findings, the dangers that could arise from countries such as Russia and China.
The EU must “take on more responsibility for its security” and expand its possibilities to “act autonomously”, declared the heads of state and government after the consultations. At the same time, the Union wants to continue “to cooperate closely with NATO”. “I am convinced that strong partnerships require strong partners,” said EU Council President Charles Michel at the top talks.
Kurz emphasized that for Austria as a neutral country, multilateral cooperation with the UN and OSCE is particularly important, as well as with NATO within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. “This applies above all to peacekeeping missions and observer missions, such as that of the OSCE in eastern Ukraine, where Austria is making its contribution.” In view of the terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2nd, Kurz emphasized the fight against Islamic terrorism and “the ideology behind it, political Islam”. “We rely on a mix of national and European measures, especially with regard to foreign terrorist fighters.”
Apart from the extent of cooperation with NATO, it is also controversial how strong the EU should become in military matters. France is committed to the goal of being able to act completely independently in the long term – especially against the background of the bad experiences that were last made during the tenure of US President Donald Trump.
Countries like Germany, on the other hand, are concerned that the EU could provoke problems in relations with the USA with such a requirement. It is also argued that the EU will not be able to achieve full autonomy for the foreseeable future.
The reason for this is the comparatively low expenditure by Europeans on armaments and defense. According to comparative figures from NATO, the USA spent around 785 billion US dollars (647 billion euros) on it last year. The EU countries, on the other hand, come together to less than 300 billion dollars. Another obstacle is the special role of non-aligned and neutral states like Austria.
How the dispute over direction will turn out will probably be seen in spring 2022. Until then, the EU states want to agree on a common “strategic compass” for the first time. It is intended to determine what the EU should be able to do in a crisis – but also what not. The basis for the work on the compass is a threat analysis completed at the end of 2020. The secret document describes, among other things, based on intelligence findings, the dangers that could arise from countries such as Russia and China.
On the sidelines of their talks on the course of the EU, the heads of state and government also exchanged views with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. This promoted an even stronger cooperation. “More than 90 percent of the people who live in the European Union live in a NATO country,” he argued. This shows that they have a very large common population and are largely confronted with the same neighborhood and the same challenges. “It all makes it perfectly clear that we need to work together.”
In this context, Stoltenberg also pointed out that the new US President Joe Biden wants to strengthen alliances that were neglected by his predecessor Trump. No country and no continent can face the current security challenges alone. “Not Europe alone, not North America alone, just Europe and North America together,” he said.
Michel said they had common priorities. Specifically, he mentioned the fight against cyber crime and misinformation. The main task of NATO is to ensure that the health crisis does not turn into a security crisis, because the threats to NATO remain, said Stoltenberg.
