Coalition of Those Willing to Go to War

Germany's PESCO

The European Intervention Initiative (EII) derives from the EU policy speech by French President Emanuel Macron at the Sorbonne University on September 26, 2017. His proposals on EU military policy was made at a time, when Berlin had succeeded in largely implementing its positions, while key French demands had been ignored during the negotiations on EU military cooperation - which would soon lead to the launching of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO).[1] PESCO is aimed at aligning the EU member states’ military capabilities and elaborating joint military capacities. The initiative thus complements the EU Defense Fund aimed at enhancing arms research and developing new weapons by European companies.[2] The broad, fairly general approach facilitated the inclusion of 25 of the 28 EU member countries. The UK, Denmark and Malta do not participate: The UK because it will leave the EU; Denmark, because it had promised its population to opt out of EU military policy, after the “NO” in the Maastricht Treaty referendum; Malta because it still officially maintains its neutrality - unlike Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Austria. However, the Maltese government is explicitly reserving the right to join PESCO at a later stage.[3]

France's Intervention Initiative

Already during the PESCO negotiations, France had advocated a different approach, aimed less at broad participation and more toward a reliable disposition and capacity for rapid military interventions - due to the French armed forces’ heavy "overstress," as the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) has noted in its recent analysis. From the French perspective, "EU structures are of little help for rapid interventions."[4] French Defense Minister Florence Parly complained last weekend, "decision-making within the EU framework is still very slow."[5] When it became evident that Berlin would prevail in the PESCO negotiations, Paris began planning an alternative format - the "Initiative européenne d'intervention." In his speech at the Sorbonne, Macron called on the EU not only to launch a joint intervention force at the beginning of the coming decade, but also to establish a joint military budget and military doctrine.[6] Parly reiterated that, in the future, France no longer wants to wage wars alone - such as ("Opération Serval") in Mali 2013 - but "together with others."

Independent of Alliances

Following final negotiations between President Macron and Chancellor Merkel last week, the European Intervention Initiative (EII) was officially launched on Monday. Formally independent of the EU, it is not dependent on lengthy concertations within the Union. It also facilitates the UK's post-Brexit inclusion. London, which, since 2010, had already concluded special military agreements with Paris - which had also served as the basis for the joint aggression against Libya,[7] - is part of the Initiative's inner circle. Denmark is also involved. Because the Initiative is not a formal EU project, its inclusion does not formally contradict the Danish opt-out from EU military policy clause. The EII includes the initiator France, along with Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands - as well as Estonia, quasi as a representative of the anti-Russian oriented East European countries. Finland explicitly reserves the right to join later. The EII's future expansion to include NATO-member Norway, for example, is considered feasible.

The Military as Normative Force

Under German pressure, the EII has been somewhat downgraded and coupled with PESCO. Berlin considers that French-inspired interventions that run counter to German interests can be more easily obstructed within an EU framework. The initiative, at least for the time being, is not aimed at creating its own troop formations, but merely a regular coordination at the military command level. The participating countries will dispatch a liaison officer to the French operation headquarters.[8] Top commanders of their militaries will hold a meeting in Paris in mid September to elaborate their first work plan.[9] A situation analysis and a joint development of intervention plans are among the items on the agenda. The French government is expressly focusing on the creation of a single "strategic culture," wherein military practice will develop to have a normative effect. In fact, until now, as the DGAP explains, "the perception had predominated that jointly elaborated strategy documents, such as a European white paper, must be the first step for a European approach."[10] Such an approach would have given the EU's leading power, Germany, an advantage, however with stronger accent on military practice, particularly in Africa, an experienced France can hope for prevalence. This explains Berlin's somewhat remaining hesitation.

Russia in the Sights

The creation of the new EII goes hand in hand with the expansion of PESCO and the EU Commission's new plans to upgrade the infrastructure of the EU countries - particularly their roads, rails and bridges - to meet military standards. 6.5 billion euros over the next decade have been earmarked for this project alone. Berlin and Paris are also energetically promoting billions in arms projects.[11] On the sidelines of last week's Franco-German Ministerial Council meeting, Defense Minister von der Leyen and her French counterpart, Parly agreed on the next steps toward the development of a modern German-French jet fighter, destined to succeed the Eurofighter in 2040, and the development of a German-French successor to the Leopard - 2 battle tank. Paris will direct the project of the jet fighter production, developed jointly by Airbus and France's Dassault group ("Rafale"), while Berlin will be in charge of the battle tank, produced by KNDS - the merger of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann with the French company Nexter. The tank is explicitly supposed to be equipped to meet the challenge of the highly modernized Russian T-14 Armata. The jet fighter is said to be conceived to operate in coordination with drones and swarms of drones and must be able to overcome Russia's most modern S400 air defense systems. A possible adversary of the EU’s future wars is thereby already clearly in the sights of the German-French arms production.

[1] See also Launching the Military Union.

[2] See also Billions for European Wars (II) and Europas strategische Rüstungsautonomie.

[3] Malta among three countries opting out of EU's new defence agreement. timesofmalta.com 11.12.2017.

[4] Claudia Major, Christian Mölling: Die Europäische Interventionsinitiative EI2. Warum mitmachen für Deutschland die richtige Entscheidung ist. DGAPkompakt Nr. 10, Juni 2018.

[5] Florence Parly: «L'Europe de la défense nécessite une culture stratégique commune». lefigaro.fr 24.06.2018.

[6] Initiative pour l'Europe - Discours d'Emmanuel Macron pour une Europe souveraine, unie, démocratique. Paris, 26 septembre 2017.

[7] See also Die neue Entente Cordiale and Der neue Frontstaat des Westens.

[8] Claudia Major, Christian Mölling: Die Europäische Interventionsinitiative EI2. Warum mitmachen für Deutschland die richtige Entscheidung ist. DGAPkompakt Nr. 10, Juni 2018.

[9] Florence Parly: «L'Europe de la défense nécessite une culture stratégique commune». lefigaro.fr 24.06.2018.

[10] Claudia Major, Christian Mölling: Die Europäische Interventionsinitiative EI2. Warum mitmachen für Deutschland die richtige Entscheidung ist. DGAPkompakt Nr. 10, Juni 2018.

[11] See also Die Rüstungsachse Berlin-Paris.