Four countries for a stronger Europe in the world
(BRUXELLES2) Les ministres des affaires étrangères polonais (Radoslaw Sikorski), suédois (Carl Bildt), italien et le secrétaire d’Etat espagnol (Gonzalo De Benito) ont profité du dernier conseil des ministres des Affaires étrangères lundi (23 juillet), pour poser les termes d’une approche globale européenne sur les relations extérieures : une « European Global Strategy » (EGS) comme ils la définissent. Ces quatre pays veulent mettre en commun les travaux de certains de leurs think tanks nationaux. Ceux-ci devraient fournir d’ici mai 2013 un rapport sur les possibilité d’une EGS.
The objective of this initiative is to remedy a lack of thinking for R. Sikorski “ We too rarely think and act strategically. Such a tool will ultimately consist in promoting European interests in a common way” he explains. « Il existe déjà une Stratégie européenne de sécurité depuis 2008 mais cette dernière tend à se focaliser toujours sur les « menaces" “Tony Blair said he wanted Europe to be a Super Power but not a Super State” continues R. Sikorski. “We have abandoned our sovereignty in the commercial domain. The result was to see that for some of us it was a good deal. If it works in this particular area of commerce, then we should apply this economy of scale to other areas, including defense. Energy policy, too, should be factored into external affairs decisions, he said.
Between soft and hard power, for the Polish minister, a few elements are still missing. " Cathy would be more effective if she could talk softly of hard forces. But she needs tools for that ". But the notion of security is not at the forefront of the signatories' concerns. “What is transforming the world today is the economy » specifies Carl Bildt. And in this area, Europe is a hard power. With an unknown: the financial crisis. “ There is a world after the economic crisis, there will be a world after 2014”.