Brussels, Nov 15 (CTK correspondent) – The EU countries presidents and PMs should send “a clear message” about their resolve to strengthen European defence and security skills at the December summit, Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky told reporters yesterday.
However, no “European army” is being formed, he said at the end of the EU defence ministers’ meetings.
“Better planning, joint training and more finances are being discussed,” Stropnicky said.
Britons have stopped blocking the rise in the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) budget that will amount to 31 million euros, he added.
However, this is no building of “the European military,” which European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker mentions and Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka talked about previously, Stropnicky said.
“In no case, we are speaking about a territorial defence of European countries,” Stropnicky said, adding that this is the role of NATO according to the Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg traditionally attended yesterday’s meeting of the EU countries’ defence ministers in Brussels and he welcomed the EU’s stronger defence concern.
However, the original French-German plan is receiving a more concrete framework, Stropnicky said. It includes the establishment of the European planning centre and the specification of conditions of the deployment of “battlegroups.”
The battlegroups have technically existed for many years, but they have never been used in reality, Stropnicky said.
On Monday, EU diplomacy head Federica Mogherini said they could be quickly deployed, for instance, in crisis regions before a U.N. mission’s arrival.
Stropnicky also pointed out that 22 countries are members of both the EU and NATO.
In particular situations, such as the Sea Guardian NATO operation in support of the EU Sophia operation against migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean Sea, ships of the same countries can operate within both EU and NATO missions, he added.
“We must plan and organise steps well. However, the fundamental idea is that a stronger European security naturally means a stronger NATO also because of a number of the same member states in both organisation,” Stropnicky pointed out.
