Can a Czech be named head of the CMPD?
The Czech Jiri Sedivy (*) seems tipped to take over from Claude France Arnould at the head of the CMPD, the civil-military planning directorate. If this more than serious "rumor", since it has been the subject of discussions, aside from the COPS, in recent days, proves to be founded, it would be bad news. Let's face it...
The CMPD is, in fact, the laboratory for future defense missions. And you can't place just any stranger there, especially from a country that abhors European defense policy. If that were the case, that would, in my opinion, be the first mistake made by Cathy Ashton, the High Representative of the EU, who in all her past or future appointments has up until now been able to skilfully balance and combine the profiles to build an interesting balance of the future diplomatic service / crisis management bodies. It would also contravene its commitments to Parliament to promote a more active European security and defense policy, and more committed to conflict prevention.
To be the son of... is it enough?
I have nothing against Jiri Sedivy. A priori even he would be nice. Her father, Jaroslav is a well-known Czech politician. Despite a military service in the 1950s, in the service of counterintelligence in the State Security (a past that he admitted, considering himself forced to "collaborate"), he was ousted from the Institute for the 'Economy and International Affairs in 1970, after normalization, and became a member of the Charter 1977. Francophile, adviser to Havel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jiri Dienstbier, he was Ambassador to France ("an ambassador under the Eiffel Tower" ), then in Belgium (also accredited to NATO), before becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1997 and 1998, then Ambassador to Switzerland. But being his father's son is not enough...
A pro-NATO Minister of Defense
Jiri has certain qualities of his own. He studied at King's College in London and then at Charles University in Prague, taught international politics before switching to politics. He enlisted in the ODS (the party of Vaclav Klaus and Miroslav Topolanek), and became Minister of Defense from 2006 to 2007 before becoming Assistant Secretary General of NATO in charge of planning, then returning to the government. Czech as adviser to Vondra at the Ministry of Defence. Is that enough? In my opinion, no! Nothing in his experience points to a particular knowledge of the structures of European defense policy (which is a primary requirement for anyone working in the field), and even less to lead a structure responsible for planning future defense operations which are very diverse (from observation missions to interposition missions, including advisory, training, police or arrest missions on the high seas). Putting on a former Minister of Defense with a past in NATO is to divert the CMPD from its mixed character, military and civilian.
The Czech Republic, the dunce of Defense Europe
Moreover, one cannot say that his nationality and his membership of a government that is at the very least Eurosceptic are an asset. On the contrary. Being Czech, in this case seals the CV in an unalterable way.
The Czech government has not shown any particular enthusiasm on the issue in recent years. Rather, it would be the opposite. Each time it was necessary to defend European defence, he considered that it already existed... in NATO, and that there was no need to build one. And he matched the action to the word. Czech participation in the EUFOR Chad operation was purely symbolic (2 soldiers!). During their presidency, in the second half of 2009, the Czechs showed no appetite for the subject (1). The Czech ambassador to the COPS who chaired the meetings was even sometimes absent. And it was his Swedish or Belgian counterparts who were to replace him at short notice (2).
This lack of enthusiasm continues today. Even recently, at the last informal Council of Defense Ministers in Ghent, the Minister of Defence, Alexandr Vondra (former Minister for European Affairs) saw no need to develop an autonomous European industry, believing that there were . .. Americans. And that was just a preview (3). During the national debate on the country's position regarding the renewal of NATO's strategic concept, a Czech Defense spokesperson summarized the work resulting from a working group - of which Jiri Sedivy was a member: " Europe only has a background role in the domain (4).
In short, it's quite simple, it is better for an American, a Turk or a Russian to be appointed to the CMPD, he will be more positive than a representative of the Czech government. So I persist, and I sign: the Czech government is today the dunce of Defense Europe. And it does not seem legitimate for one of its representatives to hold such a position. Otherwise remove the CMPD right away. So is there no other candidate to take up the gauntlet: a Belgian, an Austrian, a Spaniard...
NB: I should point out right away that I have nothing against the Czechs. These are people I adore and to whom I can feel culturally close. I appreciated their delicate and subtle way of putting an end to the communist regime through a so-called "velvet" revolution (5). And Vaclav Havel, despite his enthusiasm for the war in Iraq, remains, in my opinion, one of the main European philosophers of the century. But the current government no longer has - far from it - the European aura and attachment that its illustrious predecessors had.
(*) Not to be confused with a namesake, who is the Chief of Staff of the Czech army.
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