French general calls for EU to develop “eurozone for defence”

Date: 27/03/03

By Dana Spinant

MEMBER states wishing to do so should be allowed to create a "European Security and Defence Union" within the EU, according to a report for the European Parliament drafted by retired French general Philippe Morillon.

Such a union, which the French MEP describes as "a eurozone for defence", would be based on its members signing up to a collective defence clause to protect each other in case of attack.

General Morillon told European Voice that a "union within the Union" would allow those member states wishing to proceed quicker with military integration to do so; neutral states and those worried that such a development might upset the United States, could join at a later stage.

"From this point of view, it will really be comparable to the eurozone," said Morillon.

The general warned that unless the Union shares the defence burden with the US, by improving its own defence capabilities, it cannot demand the right to take part in war and peace decisions with Washington.

"We see that now [with Iraq]. You cannot demand to participate in decision-making if you do not participate in the burden-sharing," he said.

Morillon insists that the development of a European Security and Defence Union (ESDU) will not hamper NATO, but strengthen it. "Unless the Europeans develop their defence [capability], NATO will be in trouble," he predicted.

"One day, the Americans will say "you are as rich as us, why should we pay for your defence, and why should our soldiers risk their lives for you?"

"The Atlantic Alliance would be what the Europeans want to make of it: develop their defence or make it [NATO] disappear," Morillon added.

His report makes the point: "It [the European Parliament] is convinced that in the long run the Alliance will only be maintained through the introduction of a genuine European defence identity."

However, the general withdrew a call in an earlier draft for Europe to take over from the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, fearing this could be seen as provocative in the context of the Iraq crisis.

Member states taking part in the ESDU would have a common defence budget. They would also carry out joint research and create a common armaments agency, Morillon said.

His report calls for the gradual setting-up of a European armaments market and urges member states and candidate countries to buy European - "to apply the principle of "Community preference" so as to ensure security of supply".

It also suggests the establishment of a joint military college, as well as cooperation on training, to enhance interoperability between EU forces.

In addition, a solidarity clause should be introduced to enable member states to "mobilize all the necessary military and civilian instruments within the Union to prevent terrorist threats and respond to them".

A pool of specialised civilian and military civil protection units should be available to intervene in the event of natural or humanitarian disasters, the report - discussed on 24 March by the Parliament's foreign affairs committee - adds.

Morillon also calls for a common EU police or "gendarmerie" force "to protect the Union's external borders against terrorism and organised crime, illegal immigration and the smuggling of arms, drugs and human beings".

In order to improve the Union's military capabilities, the report suggests that a 5,000-strong force be kept in a state of permanent readiness for humanitarian operations and rescuing populations under threat as of 2004.

In addition, the Union should be able to carry out - from 2009 onward - operations at the level and intensity of the Kosovo conflict "autonomously, should NATO not be involved".

It also calls for extending the Union's rapid reaction force missions, to include joint disarmament operations, military advice and assistance, and support for third countries' authorities in the combating of terrorism.

The report, which is expected to be discussed by the Parliament's plenary in April, warns that new security risks "are perceived differently by the United States, which was shaken to the core by the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and which considers itself to be in a state of war, and by Europe, where neither the horrors in the Balkans nor the terrorist attacks...have had the same effect on public opinion".

Morillon, a former commander of the United Nations forces in Bosnia in 1992-1993, says his report "has the ambition of filling the ambition gap" between what the Union wants and is actually able to do.

Member States wishing to do so should be allowed to create a 'European Security and Defence Union' within the EU, according to a report for the European Parliament drafted by retired French general Philippe Morillon.