Check against delivery! 

We have just concluded the first edition of the Security and Defence Forum - the Schuman Forum. It is one of the commitments that we took with the Strategic Compass.

We said we had to develop partnerships. We are not alone, we need partners. And one of the ways of building partnerships was this Forum. And we do that just on the first anniversary of the [Strategic] Compass.

The [Strategic] Compass was adopted one year ago – more or less – and we have called for the Schuman Security and Defence Forum. One year [later], we are on schedule. 

The reason for this Forum is simple, for us – Europeans. We have to understand and to make it understandable to our partners.

We need partners because we cannot face our challenges alone. The challenges we are facing in today’s world - after the war in Ukraine, after the [COVID-19] pandemic, in front of climate change, in front of the financial crisis, in front of everything - require partnerships. 

And with the Schuman Forum, we have brought together our Member States and representatives from 50 countries and international organisations from Europe, America, Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf, Asia and the Pacific. We have covered the whole world and I am very happy and thankful to all of them for coming here.

And in addition, representatives from 50 think tanks and academia – from Europe and beyond. So, around 127 actors: 27 Member States, around 50 partners, 50 think tanks and academia. 

The purpose of the Forum was to listen to each other. We, Europeans, have to be much more in ‘listening mode’ and to be receptive and to discuss how we can improve our cooperation in addressing common security challenges. 

After talking with many of our partners today, I think I can say – honestly – that they want us to be more engaged. They want [us] to be more with them, more present and more active. They want to really see the European Union as a global security and defence actor. 

But to be that, we have to develop our capabilities. And I said several times, and I want to repeat it: the High Representative it is not only the High Representative for Foreign Policy, it is also [the High Representative] for Security and Defence Policy - and I am taking very seriously this second part of my job.

I am working a lot in order to develop the defence and security part [and] capability of the European Union. 

I am strongly convinced that Europe has to be a reliable security and defence partner, and for that it has to increase its own capacities.

Allow me to say that we are already doing a lot. When I have a look at what we are doing, and when I talk to our partners, I see that we are doing more than what people know or perceive.

There are close to 300 civilian and military personnel from our partner countries participating in our missions. There are 5,000 people deployed around the world in [our] 21 missions and operations. Well, there 300 of these 5,000 [people] who are not Europeans, who are coming from our partners. 

We have regular security dialogues with [more than] 20 partners from all continents. Regularly, we have defence dialogues with [more than] 20 [partners]. 

We have [been] exercising with several of them – with Japan, with India, with Oman, with the Republic of Korea. 

Through the European Peace Facility (EPF), we are supporting our partners with military equipment, from Africa to the Western Balkans, from the Middle East to the Caucasus. Yes, Ukraine is overshadowing everything, because Ukraine is a high intensity war. But apart from that, we are providing military equipment – as I said - from the Western Balkans to Africa, from the Middle East to the Caucasus. 

In our PESCO projects, many of our partners are participating, also with the European Defence Agency, and I am happy to know that we have finalised our administrative arrangements with the US in order for the US to participate in our projects. 

So, it is important to mention all that because we are not starting from zero, we have a certain degree of engagement already. 

We want to do more. Yes, we want to do more. 

We want to develop military capabilities to respond to high intensity threats, as Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine has proved.

And we have to recover the fact that in the last 20 years, Europe has been decreasing its military capacities, its defence capabilities - dividing by two their [military] expenditures and dividing by four the production of ammunition. We have to recover [from] this. 

We want to work together to strengthen collective resilience and address hybrid threats, foreign information manipulation, cyber threats. We repeat these names: cyber, hybrid, disinformation, but believe me these are the battlefields of the future. 

It is not only about conquering lands, it is about conquering minds. And this battle has to be fought.

We have to protect our maritime space and increase cooperation at sea. We will not have the Sixth Fleet like the United States – or the Seventh Fleet – but we can mobilise and coordinate better what we have in order to fight against organised crime, piracy, smuggling, increasing our maritime infrastructure to be security providers in the Eastern coast of Africa as the natural evolution of a mission which at the beginning was to fight against piracy. Now, piracy is not there anymore but there are still other kinds of challenges: smuggling of drugs and human beings.

For that, we have to exercise more together [also] on land, cooperate more closely. Our CSDP missions [and operations] have to be open to all our partners.

[We have to] deepen our cooperation on the resilience agenda. 

[We have to develop] more [the] ‘train and equip’ [approach] - not only ‘train’. Equipment is key – even for the lethal equipment but the non-lethal [equipment] is also important.

[We have to] support the United Nations Charter. 

Well, I think that the Schuman Forum has sent a clear message, that we are very much serious about it and we want to engage more. And it will come with other sessions next year – it is a work in progress. Every long travel starts with a first step, and this was the first one. 

I am happy, and very thankful to the people who have made it possible. 

Charles [Fries, EEAS Deputy Secretary-General for Peace, Security and Defence], thank you very much to you and to your team.

Thanks also to the people who accepted this invitation. It has gone much further than our expectations: 50 countries, 50 organisations. More than 100 participants – [that is] good.

It has been short but intense.

We will do it again. 

Thank you. 

Q&A 

Q: Il y a une double expression qui résume bien le sentiment du Global South par rapport à ce que l’Europe a conduit comme politique de soutien légitime à l’Ukraine, qui est : La compassion avec le peuple ukrainien parce qu’il souffre. Deuxièmement, le ressentiment, monsieur le haut représentant, car pendant cette année 2021-2022 et 2023 maintenant, on a l’impression que l’Europe découvre que le droit international peut avoir des aspects quasi sacrés quand on vous voit défendre l’Ukraine, à juste titre. Alors, est-ce que depuis cette année et pendant ce forum, vous avez sentis que vos diplomates, les ministres que vous présidez - comme [cela a été le cas] hier -, leur mental a changé un peu et qu’ils saisissent bien ce que ça veut dire que le double standard est quelque chose qui n’est pas uniquement inacceptable [mais] qui est de plus en plus insupportable pour le Sud ? Autrement, c’est votre crédibilité qui est toujours en jeu. Je n’ai pas besoin de mentionner des exemples d’acteurs régionaux, internationaux, qui apparaissent de plus en plus voire même dans l’environnement de l’Union européenne et dans son voisinage. Est-ce que le mental européen a changé par rapport à cette question du double standard que vous avez pratiqué en Europe – bien sûr, évidemment, les Etats-Unis, etc – par rapport à des conflits qui durent depuis des décennies, à savoir le conflit palestinien ou autre ?

Pour répondre à la première question, il faudrait que je fasse une conférence. Mais je comprends bien ce que vous voulez dire.

La guerre en Ukraine, c’est une guerre de haute intensité. Une guerre qui mobilise des ressources financières et militaires à une échelle qui n’a rien à voir avec l’échelle de nos missions militaires d’entrainement ou pour faire face à des guerres hybrides qui sont – par définition - des guerres qui n’ont pas l’intensité militaire de la guerre d’Ukraine. 

Quand on fait face à une guerre de haute intensité, le contraste avec les autres évènements est plus évident. C’est bien évident. Et je comprends bien qu’il y a des acteurs qui disent que votre mobilisation vis-à-vis de l’Ukraine a été beaucoup plus rapide, beaucoup plus intense, beaucoup plus engagée que celle que vous avez eu avec nous. 

Et c’est vrai. [Tout] d’abord, la guerre en Ukraine, c'est une menace existentielle pour l’Europe. Elle a lieu dans nos territoires, près de chez nous. On est quand même des êtres humains – on ressent beaucoup plus près ce qui nous touche de plus près. 

Mais ça, oui, ça nous a fait prendre conscience du fait qu’il y a d’autres conflits dans le monde dont on ne percevait pas leur intensité dramatique de la même façon - parce que ça ne nous touchait pas de façon assez directe. 

Et aujourd’hui, on a entendu des phrases qui sont, à mon avis, très importantes. Par exemple, de dire que ce n’est pas qu’on ne partage pas les mêmes valeurs, c’est qu’on ne partage pas les mêmes priorités, a dit la ministre sénégalaise [des affaires étrangères, Tall Sall Aissata]. Ô comme c’est vrai, non ? Vous ne partagez pas les mêmes priorités parce que vous êtes dans des situations différents. 

Donc, il faut faire un effort pour se mettre à la place de l’autre. Il faut être un petit peu plus ‘Shopenhaueriste’. [Arthur] Shopenhauer disait : “C’est la position de l’observateur qui détermine le phénomène observé.” C’est la position qui détermine le phénomène qu’on observe donc il faut savoir se mettre dans la position d’autres observateurs.

Et moi, j’ai appris beaucoup de la réaction que la guerre en Ukraine a produit chez nos partenaires. Et il faut prendre ça d’une façon positive, pour mieux nous engager avec eux. 

Q: High Representative, we heard today from the National Security Minister of Ghana [Albert Kan-Dapaah] [that] he asked and called on the European Union to partner with West African countries to address human security challenges. He said: “We are not asking for free money from partners but rather a funding mechanism.” The European Union has some actions in place in West Africa, but clearly, we are hearing from the region that it is not enough. How would you respond to that call from the Minister in Ghana? What more can be done in the region, which is obviously experiencing many security challenges?

J’ai eu une réunion bilatérale avec le ministre [de la sécurité nationale] du Ghana, et on a bien discuté du ‘do ut des’ - qu’il ne faut pas non plus arriver avec le carnet de chèques en croyant que parce que vous faites une contribution financière ponctuelle, vous trouvez une solution au problème. Non, il faut d’abord savoir ce qu’ils attendent de nous. Ce n’est pas seulement arriver avec notre ‘recipe’ (recette). Chaque problème a sa solution et sans doute, ce qui arrive aujourd’hui dans le golfe de Guinée demande une approche sur-mesure. On ne peut pas avoir la même solution partout - la grande mission d’entrainement militaire. Comme on l’a dit, il faut faire du sur-mesure. Il faut être plus agile, plus flexible, plus rapide et agir beaucoup plus en partenariat. 

Le mot clé qui ressort de cette journée c’est la volonté de travailler en partenariat. On ne peut pas arriver avec nos recettes en croyant que parce que c’est les nôtres, elles ont une valeur universelle. 

Q: I have a question about the relation between Russia and China because speaking about security and defence, we cannot not talk about that. Yesterday, President [of China] Xi [Jinping] called Putin “his dear friend”, and he said that he is sure that the Russian population will support Putin in his next election. How worried are you about that? Do you think that China already chose the side of Russia in this war with Ukraine? What do you plan to do with that, if so?

There is nothing new. President Xi [Jinping] signed with President Putin the treaty of ‘Unlimited friendship’ just some days before the [start of the] war in Ukraine. So, the position of China has not changed.

Q: But the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) did not change it? It is supposed to change it, no? According to the ICC, Putin is a war criminal already. Did you expect it would change something between them?

It will change. As I said the other day, Russia says that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the end is a completely powerless organisation, [and] they do not recognise [so] whatever they say, it does not matter. Yes, it matters. It matters because the ICC is an organisation that has been recognised by – I think – more or almost 130 countries around the world. And if President Putin goes to one of these 130 countries, he should be arrested on the spot. It is a big difference.

• Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238826