Alain Juppé tomorrow in Brussels for a state visit
The bulletproof vest may not be necessary in Brussels! Although... The weather has cooled in recent days between Brussels and Paris. And a stitch or two is needed. The French Defense Minister, Alain Juppé, will be in Brussels tomorrow for a comprehensive visit which is not just about his strict ministerial portfolio.
NATO and the European Commission
We will thus have the classic meeting with the Secretary General of NATO. Between the commitment in Afghanistan, the tightening of bolts in the organization and the good follow-up of the reintegration of France (and the French) into the Alliance, the subjects are not lacking. But the minister will not stop there. He will also meet José-Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, as well as Frenchman Michel Barnier, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council. Rather rare for a Minister of Defense. But Alain Juppé is not just anyone. It is also the number 2 of the government. And the range of subjects between Brussels and Paris is wide: European budget, raw materials, industry. Alain Juppé will notably want to convince his interlocutors to put on the agenda an old French antiphon (which is however not shared by everyone): European industrial policy. We must not forget that we are also a few days away from the European summit (February 4) devoted to the economy. And an exchange of views between the European and French authorities, at the highest level, is not negligible.
Go Baroness!
With Lady Ashton (as with José-Manuel Barroso), a series of international subjects are also on the agenda, in particular what is happening "on the other side of the Mediterranean": the Sahel and the terrorist risk, Côte d'Ivoire and the Gbagbo impasse (with the possibility of a European force), Tunisia, ... In the interview, one on one, that Alain could have Juppé with the Baroness, this could be an opportunity for the Minister to reaffirm France's attachment to the construction of European defense and to the European External Action Service (EEAS).
A necessity ! We had some doubts lately about the position of the French government (and the Elysée) on these two subjects. The purpose of this interview is therefore to help dispel doubts and encourage the High Representative to relaunch various projects in the area of European defence. These are not just words. Three projects are currently in the pipeline and could mean this revival: the maritime assistance mission in the Horn of Africa, the justice and prisons assistance mission in Somalia, the border assistance mission in Gaza. The industrial and economic questions of European capacity are also present, summarized in the recent paper submitted by Germany, France and Poland (the Weimar paper). And as his entourage reminds us, the minister recently asked Catherine Ashton to get personally involved " in development a Europe of defense that is credible in the political and military fields, capable of maintaining effective complementary links with the Alliance ».
In a nutshell, the message would be:Go ahead, Madame la Baronne, go ahead, we're here..."