Big sigh
(BRUSSELS2) The visibility of the common security and defense policy (CSDP) is an item on the agenda of the December summit. A point which was added at the request of several participants (particularly from Member States). Well Named. For the CSDP has developed in recent times in the shadows. While on the ground it works, we often see little of the result of this activity. That's an understatement...
Slowly
The midday briefing where the press and Commission spokespersons meet (*) rarely gives rise to a communication on this subject. Even when it comes to giving "positive" news. And when a question is asked about the use of battlegroups or the position of the High Representative on a crisis zone, we generally attract a "big sigh", followed by a very slow walk towards the podium, as slow as possible, just to make it clear that this question is not really, but not really, of interest. And that she annoys everyone.
In general, the answer revolves around a standard response: "we will find out and we will come back to you". With variation in B minor, like “I don't know. I am getting information” or in C minor “the question is not currently on the agenda”. The lack of appetite was so visible that, recently, a colleague had to get a little angry to point out that the question (relating to the crisis in the Central African Republic) deserved a little interest, did not interest only one person but all journalists, and she deserved an answer right away. This situation is not the fault of individuals, it conceals a lack of political will.
Analysis
A few days ago, I therefore published a small analysis of this absence, to seek not only the causes but also, and above all, to propose solutions. Complaining is always easy, proposing remedies is harder. This article was published in the B2 club (subscribers only). Because the subject concerns a priori a more specialized public. The article also made it possible to supplement my intervention, carried out in Paris this summer, during a seminar at the Military School, at the invitation of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU and the French Ministry of Defence, which had asked to work on this topic. Seminar attended by many officials, from the EEAS, from the Member States or the ministers of the two countries (France, Lithuania)...
Solutions
These solutions did not come out of a hat, or a bar conversation, but stemmed from experience and discussions with different actors of this policy (ministers, diplomats, soldiers, journalists...), in Brussels and in the field. In themselves, they were not very original. But, apparently, they hit a nerve. Because Lady Ashton's spokesperson service saw fit to send me a "right of reply" with an order to publish it on the page concerned.
Recognition of the work carried out
A rather rare procedure which has been little used, even when the newspapers fired red bullets at Catherine Ashton or European diplomacy (the release of my colleague from Le Soir on "European diplomacy a disaster" this Friday at Bozar n did not elicit any comments for example). It is, in a way, a mark of recognition for B2 and the quality of the work carried out on a daily basis.
A real right of reply or a means of pressure
It should not be denied however, this approach barely hides a desire to put pressure. What this article says is simply what many people say and think to themselves but cannot express publicly. The way of using the right of reply (*) proves it: instead of addressing it to the director of publication as required by law, and the rule in use, it was addressed to myself (the author of the item). In a threatening tone. The barely veiled threat to boycott news and the call for the necessary "responsibility" and "honesty" of journalists seems quite out of place...
Room for debate
The EEAS is not a member of the Club. But it seems that he is reading it on the sly, in secret 😉! So that not only Catherine Ashton but also everyone can read what has been written, as well as the response - which confirms what I am saying in a nutshell -, I have decided to open this article (published on the Club of B2, reserved for subscribers) for general reading. Everyone will be able to form a free opinion!
Lire: CSDP not very visible, public diplomacy absent. Why ? How to cure it ?
Follow on this blog: coincidence... an example of "bad will"!
(update: Thursday, October 14, grammatical clarifications)
