In Lithuania, a touch of the USSR. Objective: not to be visible

(BRUSSELS2 to Vilnius) The visibility of the common security and defense policy is one of the objectives announced by the Heads of State and Government for their next summit. However, to see the way in which the informal meeting of Defense Ministers - like those of Foreign Affairs - is organized by the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU, one can wonder whether it is really an objective or not to be an illusion. . It would seem that Lithuania was not for nothing in the orbit of the USSR for years. Some uses have remained...

Bunkerized journalists

The Lithuanian presidency of the European Union has thus done everything to keep the press away from the ministers. The journalists have been carefully parked in a bunkered room where the ministers do not have access. And vice versa. To get to the entry point (where ministers' statements are given), located... 5 meters from the press room, journalists must go all the way around the building, escorted by a police officer in front, a officer behind and one on the side. They could indeed get lost... As for the usual tour de table, no press photographer was authorized to do so except the Lithuanian media (NB: a request from the office of the High Representative, C. Ashton, depending on the organization, which wants to control the image).

A touch of USSR

If you missed the "collective escort", no chance of going there unless other colleagues are in the same situation as you. Same for returning. Same principle for the press conference, 10 meters away, where it is only under the escort of a police officer that journalists can go there... 20 minutes before! That's twice the time needed for a flock of ants. The objective is in fact to avoid that, at a given moment, journalists can come across a member of a delegation (other than the Lithuanian presidency or of the EEAS), just to avoid that the messages are discordant, or even worse. .. interesting! According to the first evaluations, this press conference should last a maximum of 15 or 20 minutes, with a maximum of 5 questions (*). etc And the High Representative, C. Ashton, decided not to be present, being replaced by the Deputy Secretary General of the EEAS, Mr. Popowski.

A tradition or a will?

To be honest, let's add that the Lithuanian presidency is not the only one to blame. It seems that there is a tradition, presidency after presidency, of making informal meetings more closed than formal meetings. And even on the side of the EEAS, we cannot say that visibility is a tradition or a will. The recent meeting of EU Ambassadors and CSDP Heads of Mission proves this. Held in Brussels earlier this week, it was carefully closed to the press. Officially, it was of a business meeting". If the speeches of Herman Van Rompuy and José-Manuel Barroso were made available, the intervention of Catherine Ashton, the head of the European Diplomatic Service, carefully remained discreet. Ditto for the heads of mission of the CSDP who did not have the right to speak in public. For the visibility of the CSDP, it will therefore be necessary to go back...

(Shift) This attitude does not seem exceptional. A detailed IRSEM study written in January 2013 and published in April supports this finding with a very comprehensive analysis. To download Etude