The A400M surprise guest of the informal defense in Palma
(BRUSSELS2) A final meeting between the partners of the European military aircraft, Airbus A400M, will take place on the sidelines of the informal meeting of European Union Defense Ministers, in Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands), on 24 and 25 FEBRUARY. Objective try to define an additional agreement to allow the continuation of the program, the latest offer from Participating States not being totally welcomed by the industrialist, EADS.
This meeting will be of significant interest not only by the subjects officially put on the agenda but also by the meetings it will allow.
The round of operations and the economic crisis. Classically, the meeting of Defense Ministers is an opportunity to review the military missions deployed on the ground: the anti-piracy operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta and the future training mission for the Somali security forces EUTM Somalia, the transformation of the Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina into a training and advisory mission to the Bosnian armed forces; and the progress of the EUCO-Haiti emergency aid coordination action after the earthquake in Haiti (article to come). It is also an opportunity to review capacities (Headline goals), a question that is more crucial today than ever with the economic and budgetary crisis that is affecting all European States, in particular Greece, Spain and Portugal. but also the UK.
Quick reaction capacity. The Spanish presidency wants to focus on a few topics, in particular: building capacity
immediate reaction European Unions in the management of all types of crises, including natural disasters, to promote
European training and exchange programs in the military field and better coordinate military and civilian resources in order to respond more effectively to new risks.
5+5 cooperation. This meeting will also be an opportunity to take stock of regional cooperation, with the Mediterranean as well as with NATO. Thus a meeting will be organized with the Mediterranean partners of the 5+5 initiative on cooperation on security in the Euro-Mediterranean region, a "trick" that never really worked. It will be interesting, however, to see what the Libyan Minister of Defense has to say to the Europeans, after the suspension of the granting of visas to Schengen citizens (following the Libyan-Swiss dispute involving in particular a son of Gaddafi).
NATO Secretary General. Another meeting will focus on the strategic partnership with NATO, with the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Ritual meeting which will take on a particular double interest: on the one hand, with the political crisis in the Netherlands precisely on the Afghan crisis and while the Marjah offensive is in development; on the other hand, with the Belgian declaration advocating the withdrawal of all American nuclear weapons from European territory (read: Us (Nuclear) Go home?).
As for the High Representative of the EU, her presence will be… dotted. Read here.