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- Franco-British Summit / Paris, June 9 2006 -
Declaration on security and defence :
In the spirit of the Saint-Malo summit of December 1998 the United Kingdom and France re-affirm their shared commitment to act together against evolving threats and challenges to our security and defence and to that of our allies and partners. We will continue to work together to strengthen the Europeans' capability and commitment to contribute more to international peace and security and respond to the threats to security that they face. Common commitment to peace support operations and development of European capabilities remain at the core of our priorities.
Our bilateral co-operation on aircraft carriers is an important symbol of that commitment. This is a vital project for France, the UK and for Europe. The aircraft carriers are an important defence capability that will enhance our ability to act. Our programme of co-operation has now reached the detailed definition phase which is due for completion by the end of the year. By then, our industries will have to make an attractive offer enabling programmes to be launched in 2007.
I/ Working together toward International stability and security.
1. In the Western Balkans, we must face up to the sensitive deadlines in negotiations on the final status of Kosovo and constitutional changes in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Kosovo, implementing a settlement will require a continued commitment from the International Community. We intend to carry forward our efforts in the NATO force (KFOR), notably during the future status of Kosovo negotiations, as well as in the new robustly-equipped EU policy and rule of Law mission. And in the interests of the region's future, we maintain our strong support for the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
2. In Africa we intend to support the efforts of the Africans to take charge of their own security, specifically by continuing our EU and NATO efforts in the peacekeeping role in Darfur of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and by preparing the transfer of responsibilities to the United Nations. This is also the spirit behind the deployment in DRC, at UN request, of an EU military holding force (EUFOR DRC).
We want to strengthen our bilateral cooperation, within the European framework, while continuing to support existing arrangements with African countries and working alongside other actors. We must respond to the requests of the regional security organisations and African countries wishing to acquire their own conflict prevention and management capabilities and reform their security sectors. .We have decided as a first step to support the set-up of a network of African military training schools.
3. In Afghanistan we wish to contribute to the stability and authority of the Government. In this context, we support the expansion of the NATO International Security Assistance Force throughout the country. With this target we intend to step up our efforts in training the national Afghan Army and supporting the Afghan authorities' counter-narcotics campaign
4. With the countries of the Near and Middle East we wish to develop our strategic relations and respond to the training needs they have expressed in the area of security, by drawing on existing local training structures in cooperation which is open to relevant international organisations. We wish to intensify dialogue and cooperation on security issues between and among the Europeans and our partners in the Barcelona process, and in the Gulf regions. We welcome the inauguration of the new government in Iraq and will work with the UN and the EU for the building of a prosperous, stable and united Iraq.
II/ Building up our security and defence capabilities.
In the European Union we intend to encourage better use of civil and military tools and ensure better consistency in actions led by the Commission and the Council in response to crisis situations.
We welcome in this regard the approaching completion of necessary facilities, as well as work done on manning and training, to allow an EU Operations Centre to be generated as we proposed, with Germany in December 2003. It will represent a major asset of the Union. We also welcome the efforts made in Brussels after the Hampton Court Summit to improve the arrangements for coordinated EU response to natural disasters, including the possible rapid deployment of military capabilities in support of civil response measures.
Following the Hampton Court impetus, the resources available under the Common Foreign and Security Policy are to be increased significantly. We hope that the rules on funding of EU military operations, to be reviewed under the Finnish Presidency, will help enable rapid deployment and disaster response.
We would also like to speed up ongoing work on the use of the European nations' naval and air forces in rapid reaction operations.
We will explore options for broad cooperation between naval, intelligence and civilian organisations in order to ensure improved co-ordination of our efforts against terrorism, proliferation and illegal migration.
In research and defence we would like cooperation between our two countries to help us to maintain on our territory the technologies that are essential for our sovereignty. We will also give active support to the action of the European defence Agency in that field.
Drawing on the example of aircraft carrier co-operation and our thinking on the maintenance of key industrial capabilities in relation to missile technologies, we will explore the potential for adapting transfers regulations with the aim of improving the efficiency of our missile industry.
We also intend to encourage cooperation projects more systematically. One such opportunity might be work on the development of generic underpinning technologies associated with UAV.
In that spirit, we will establish a high-level working group from British and French government and industry to consider ways to build upon and enhance existing cooperation in armaments programs. We will ask that group to report by the end of the year.
The European Defence Agency must be a lever in the growth of the European defence effort. We intend to support its activities in all its areas of competence. In terms of capabilities the Agency must increase its contribution to the work started by the European nations to plug their gaps, especially in strategic transport, air refuelling and communications. In research and technology the Agency must encourage European States to step up their efforts by identifying common projects. The United Kingdom and France have already brought their Work on lightweight radar to the agency, and wish to do the same on armoured vehicle technologies at the appropriate time. Finally, in the Defence Equipment Market the Code of Conduct for defence procurement is a first step towards strengthening the defence industrial and technology base in Europe.
To strengthen European strategic transport resources, we are drawing on current work in both the EU and NATO. Here, States require firstly the capabilities to contribute to enable them to conduct national operations but also contribute to EU, NATO and UN operations.
By the same token, in NATO, we are working together to ensure that the Alliance transforms itself to be ready to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. We reaffirm our conviction that a strong ESDP is in the interest of the transatlantic relationship. We are committed to strengthen the Alliance's capabilities including through our contributions to the NATO Reaction Force. These will be discussed at the Riga Summit in November which should also set out guidelines for the Alliance's capability.
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