The Commission gets its pen tangled up on its “Communication” defence!
(BRUSSELS2) The Commission press release announcing the appointment of Michel Barnier as "special adviser for European defense and security policy" to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, is a feast... of errors.
In one sentence, he brings together a series of approximations, unexpected to say the least for such a subject, and which would be worth an immediate "0" to any student in a European class. Indeed, we learn that Michel Barnier supervised a " Communication on European defense markets (oh!) presented by the Commission in September 2014 (oh oh!) to the European Council (oh good!) ". (Download here).
A European Council... of ministers!
In fact of European Council, it is not a summit of Heads of State and Government that the Commission wants to mention but a Council of Ministers for Competitiveness (*). And this is not really the place where most of the debate on the Commission's Defense communication took place.
Communication, what communication?
Moreover, this "communication" was not adopted in 2014, but in July 2013 and presented to the ministers, in several formats in the autumn of the same year (Competitiveness in September, Defense in November). This document has moreover constituted the " contribution from the Commission to the European Council of December 2013.
Defense markets or a defense industrial policy
This document also went beyond the strict framework of "defense contracts", a precision that is not only scriptural. Named "Towards a more competitive and efficient defense and security sector", his ambition was to have a defense strategy for politics, to create an industrial defense policy, and not just to stick to the "market" approach. sparked debate and controversy, both within the Commission and among Heads of State and Government. Remember David Cameron who denounced the fact that the Commission wanted to manage a fleet of drones... (read: David Cameron sounds the charge (heroic)).
Roadmap or communication
This communication then gave rise to an implementation report, a "roadmap", adopted by the Commission in June 2014. A fairly classic scheme within the European institution which adopts a political document then translates it into a plan more concrete actions. It is this report which was then presented to the Council of European Ministers for Competitiveness on September 25, 2014 (which the press release no doubt aimed at), not as a main subject. This presentation did not really lead to major considerations (this is not the role of the report). The conclusions of the Council also classify this report as "any others business" and devote just a few very simple lines to it:
- The Council took note of a presentation by the Commission of the report "A New Deal for European Defense" (11358/14), which establishes a roadmap for the activities set out in the communication "Towards a more competitive and efficient defense and security sector " (12773/13).
These are all details. But it's a bit embarrassing for an institution reputed to be serious and which does not hesitate to give lessons. Finally Cameron was perhaps right not to want to give the helm on the defense to the Commission. Imagine piloting drones with the same error rate. And we would end up bombing Alaska or Canterbury 😉 or even spying on the queen hunting mosquitoes in her summer home. Damned!
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Read also about the Club: Michel Barnier returns as Defense “pillar” for the Juncker Commission
(*) A charitable colleague reported this little "technical misunderstanding" (to be diplomatic) in a very kind way to the European Commission. She didn't even thank him, stubbornly insisting that, of course, there had been a European Council in September! No corrections were made. The press release that I downloaded, at the end of the afternoon today, bears witness to this.
It will also be pointed out to the spokesperson for the Commission that in French, the names of months do not take a capital letter; therefore NOT 'September 2014'.