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Roundup: European Parliament foreign affairs body approves common EU defense policy

Xinhua, October 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Parliament's foreign affairs committee here on Monday called on the European Union (EU) to increase the coordination of its defense forces, beginning with a common European defense policy to tackle deteriorating security situations in and around Europe.

In a resolution adopted by the committee on the European Defence Union, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) noted that increased risks of terrorist activity, cyber-attacks and energy insecurity had led to heightened security fears in Europe and its vicinity. The parliamentarians underlined concerns that no country would be able to respond to these threats alone.

In the resolution, passed by 37 votes in favor to 20 against, with one abstention, MEPs called on the European Council to head the creation of a "common Union defense policy and to provide additional financial resources ensuring its implementation."

It also recommended an EU operational headquarters to plan, command, and control crisis management missions.

Likewise, MEPs pressed EU members to aim to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and to create "multinational forces within the permanent structured cooperation and make these forces available to the common security and defence policy."

In a second resolution, adopted by 36 votes in favor to 18 against, with five abstentions, MEPs called for the review and radical overhaul of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The resolution urges strategic autonomy and increased resilience for EU defense operations.

The EU "should be able to intervene across the whole spectrum of crisis management, including crisis prevention and crisis resolution," while "all Council decisions on future missions and operations should prioritize engagements in conflicts directly affecting EU security," said the text.

A suggestion built into the resolution called for launching CSDP training operations in Iraq to help support EU members in the coalition fighting the Islamic State.

Finally, the resolution encouraged further steps to strengthen EU-NATO relations and cooperation, especially to avoid waste and to combat hybrid and cyber threats.

These resolutions have echoed pleas made by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker during his annual state of the union address last September, when he called for a joint military headquarters and operations complimentary to NATO.

Both resolutions will be voted on by the full parliamentary assembly during its November plenary session. Endit