On 13 July, Ms. Claude-France Arnould, EDA’s Chief Executive, attended in Paris the Weimar High Level Seminar on capabilities: “Pooling, sharing and cooperation: a compulsory challenge”.
This Seminar, organised by France in full cooperation with Germany, Poland (the Weimar Triangle), follows proposals by their Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers to Ms. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on how to reinforce EU-NATO cooperation, the EU’s ability to plan and conduct operations, and cooperation on military capabilities. The seminar was opened by the French Minister of defence, and was designed to deliver concrete proposals on how to promote European cooperation in the field of defence capabilities..
Ms. Arnould spoke in two panels. In the first, which she shared with Mr Patrick Bellouard, Director of OCCAr Executive Administration, she spoke about “EDA added value for European cooperation – EDA-OCCAr synergy”. She underlined the natural partnership between EDA and OCCAR, which allowed for a seamless transition of the management of projects at the European level, such as the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training or the Biological Equipment Development and Enhancement Programme. “EDA-OCCAr cooperation is, now more than ever, an imperative”, she concluded.
In the second panel, which she shared with General Stephane Abrial, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation, Ms. Arnould addressed the issue of “EU Pooling and Sharing initiative and NATO Multinational and Innovative Approaches: comparative advantages”. Ms. Arnould said “In the context of budget cuts, Pooling and Sharing is a key priority for the Agency: we need to improve cooperation. Pooling and Sharing has been a driver for the Agency for some time. But European involvement in Libya should act as a wake-up call. The Agency needs to continue to deliver and benefit from the high level support”. Together with the General Abrial, she underlined the need for reciprocal transparency with NATO: “Coordination with NATO is essential because both share the same goal, namely to improve capabilities in a constrained financial environment”.
