Strengthening the European Union’s autonomous strategic capacity

The Portuguese Defence Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, claimed that the experience in Afghanistan heightened the importance of strengthening the EU’s autonomous strategic capacity.

In a statement to Lusa press agency in Slovenia, following the EU Defence Ministers meeting on the Strategic Compass – the document being drafted by the 27 Member States to outline the European Security and Defence strategy, João Gomes Cravinho noted that the level of convergence between the Member States "is very high".

He said: "I believe that this recent experience in Afghanistan heightened the importance of rising our ambition with the strategic compass". The challenge now is "to materialize, especially when it comes to capabilities, this notion that Europe is able to protect and promote its own interests, the EU’s strategic interests, even when there are no other partners that may consider these strategic interests, namely the United States and NATO".

For the Minister "there is huge interest in having strong relations with the United States and NATO, yet there is also huge interest in being able to act when NATO and the United States don’t share the same interest as the European Union".

"When it comes to the moment we’re experiencing, where we’re wrapping up the Strategic Compass, I believe this meeting is timely, as it allowed us to move forward with drafting the Strategic Compass in great confidence", he added.

João Gomes Cravinho also said that "a feeling of urgency to develop a European response capability in situations that are unpredictable at the moment" prevailed at the meeting, and that, with all likelihood "these will occur in one way or another" and require "an EU military intervention capability".