Fr-UK declaration of St-Malo on European defence, 4 Dec. 1998. The text
(BRUSSELS2) Franco-British declaration on European defence: Saint-Malo, 4 December 1998
“The Heads of State and Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of France have agreed as follows:
1. The European Union must be able to play its full role on the international scene. The Treaty of Amsterdam, an essential basis for Union action, must therefore become a reality. Full and rapid implementation of the Amsterdam provisions on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) must be completed. This includes the responsibility of the European Council to decide on the progressive development of a common defense policy within the framework of the CFSP. The Council must be able, on an intergovernmental basis, to take decisions covering the full range of actions provided for in Title V of the Treaty on European Union.
2. To this end, the Union must have an autonomous capacity for action, supported by credible military forces, with the means to use them and being ready to do so in order to respond to international crises.
In this perspective, the collective defense commitments to which the Member States have subscribed (Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and Article V of the Brussels Treaty) must be maintained. By strengthening solidarity between the countries of the European Union so that Europe can make its voice heard in world affairs, while acting in accordance with our respective obligations within NATO, we are contributing to the vitality of a renewed Atlantic Alliance which constitutes the foundation of the collective defense of its members.
Europeans will have to act within the institutional framework of the European Union (European Council, General Affairs Council and meeting of defense ministers).
The strengthening of European solidarity must take into account the variety of positions of European countries.
The diversity of states' situations with regard to NATO must be respected.
3. In order to be able to take decisions and, when the Alliance as such is not involved, to approve military actions, the European Union must be equipped with the appropriate structures. It must also have a capacity to assess situations, sources of intelligence and a capacity for strategic planning, without unnecessary duplication, taking into account the current means of Western European Union (WEU) and the evolution of its relations with the European Union. In this respect, the European Union will have to be able to have recourse to appropriate military means (European means pre-identified within the European pillar of NATO or national and multinational means outside the NATO framework).
4. Europe needs reinforced armed forces, able to deal rapidly with new risks and relying on a competitive and strong defense industrial and technological base.
5. We are determined to unite our efforts to enable the European Union to make concrete progress towards these objectives. »
To remember the atmosphere, see the France3 report
(NGV)
