Blog AnalysisPSDC crisis management

A military agreement with Uncle Sam

(credit: EU Council)
(credit: EU Council)

(BRUSSELS2) You loved the draft transatlantic agreement prepared by the European Commission! You will undoubtedly love the ACSA agreement that the specialists of the European Union are discreetly preparing.

Officially, it is only an "administrative arrangement" intended to facilitate an operation commander's access to certain means which he lacks (planes, satellites, etc.). " It's nothing more...” assures me a high-ranking officer, chic to the devil, quite surprised that I am interested in this simple question of stewardship. Politely said, it means: "Circulate there is nothing to see". And then it's never anything more than what many member states have signed. All in all, it makes sense, explains a diplomat to me.

All of this is fully justified, except that... this "arrangement" fully telescopes the projects underway at European level, whether it be the overhaul of the system for financing European missions and operations - announced in December by François Hollande - or the organization of a common defense industry market.

As for the legality of signing such an agreement, within a simple financing committee, without even the approval of ministers or EU ambassadors, it seems somewhat doubtful...

The details of the reception on the Club: A military supply agreement with the Americans in the process of being concluded

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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