European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, Germany & Netherlands – ECCI
EXCLUSIVE: France, Germany shoot down new Kallas-led defence group
Euractiv ـ Plan to draft ‘Draghi report for defence’ rejected by Paris, Berlin and Rome
A plan to set up a group of senior advisers to brainstorm ideas on European defence policy has been abruptly cancelled just days after it was announced by foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Only six days ago, Kallas announced she would assemble the “brightest minds” to drum up fresh ideas on the future of European defence. But the council of elders, set to be launched formally in Brussels on Monday, has been shelved after a last-minute rearguard action by several EU capitals, according to multiple officials and people involved in the process.
“Some member states felt this was not the right path to pursue at this moment. After some discussion with ministers, we have decided not to proceed with the initiative,” an EU official said.
“We are looking at new ways of engaging with member states,” the official added.
France, Italy and Germany are believed to be behind the eleventh-hour cancellation. Euractiv has contacted all three governments for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.
Kallas had not revealed the names of the eight people expected to participate. The group would have brought together former political and military officials to offer recommendations on how Europe could quickly produce and procure the weapons it needs.
“The aim is to have some of the brightest minds on security and defence to come together and really provide out-of-the-box solutions,” Kallas told reporters on Tuesday in Ireland, after a meeting of EU defence ministers.
“We have not been fast enough although the threat level is rising,” Kallas said.
Capitals vs EEAS
The reversal comes just as Kallas is resisting Franco-German plans to fold her European External Action Service (EEAS) into the European Commission.
She has recently beefed up her institution’s defence prowess, bringing in Kajsa Ollongren, the former Dutch defence minister, as the new secretary general, and David Cvach, France’s former ambassador to NATO, as the lead on defence.
Capitals last year agreed to plug nine defence gaps by 2030, ranging from air defence to ammunition and military mobility, and in July pitched a series of large-scale joint defence projects.
But these ambitious proposals, including plans for drones and integrated air and missile defence, will take years to materialise. Kallas hoped her new group would provide some non-binding recommendations for shorter-term solutions.
“The diagnosis has not changed: Europe needs to deliver faster on defence,” said the EU official. “We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation in a few years’ time, where we look back and find that Europe was so focused on where it needed to be in 2035 that it failed to do what was necessary in 2027.”
A report by EU auditors last week warned that Europe’s defence ramp-up is being hampered by a lack of coordination between capitals and the absence of effective planning.
https://en.europarabct.com/?p=83185
European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, Germany & Netherlands – ECCI
