EU nations circle the wagons in new ‘Strategic Compass’
By Sebastian Sprenger
Mar 21, 05:53 PM
WASHINGTON — The defense ministers of European Union nations adopted the long-awaited “Strategic Compass” document on Monday, presenting a plan to beef up the bloc’s defenses in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials had hastened to rewrite the document since the war began in late February, replacing the diplomatic approach where a would-be adversary is unnamed with plain language painting Russia as an aggressor against its neighbor and as a threat to Europe.
“We aim to become a more assertive security and defense actor by enabling more robust, rapid and decisive action, including for the resilience of the Union and our mutual assistance and solidarity,” the document read.
It formalizes several initiatives aimed at breathing operational nimbleness into an institution built on lengthy decision-making processes — albeit all in due time. For example, member states want to hammer out by 2023 the “practical modalities” for forming mini-coalitions of the willing, consisting of subsets of members that would deploy to hot spots on behalf of the bloc and under EU Council oversight.
Officials have long eyed that mechanism, hiding in plain sight in Article 44 of the EU Treaty, as a justification for short-circuiting the unanimous consent principle during crises. But discussions so far have been largely academic, though French officials indicated they would move the topic along during Paris’ six-month turn at the helm of the Council of the European Union that began in January.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2022/03/21/eu-nations-circle-the-wagons-in-new-strategic-compass/
