Press conference

Good afternoon.

It is a pleasure to be here today. And I would like to thank President Van Rompuy for inviting me to address the European Council.

My message today was clear: We all agree that defence matters. We all want to see a strong, committed Europe able to play its part in managing international crises. And we all want to make sure that European nations have the tools they need to make that happen.

That means developing real military capabilities, and those capabilities that our nations really need: observation drones, air-to-air refuelling, heavy transport. And it means enabling a strong European industrial base.

I welcome the increasing focus by European nations on developing these capabilities. And let me stress: It is not NATO or the European Union that possess these assets. These capabilities are owned by individual nations.

This is not about creating a “European army”. It is about making sure that the countries of Europe are strong and capable. So that they can contribute to crisis management when they choose, and how they choose - whether it be through the European Union, NATO or any other way.

Each country only has one set of forces, and one set of taxpayers. Duplication is a luxury we cannot afford.

So we need greater cooperation, coordination and cohesion. Within Europe. Across the Atlantic. And between the European Union and NATO.

We must be sure that we continue to complement and reinforce each other. In concrete terms, we must work closely together in developing military capabilities and industrial standards. In coordinating our approaches to maritime security and cyber security. And in training, exercises and defence capacity building for partners that need our support.

We must be smarter together. And stronger together.

And the time to act is now. Because unless we Europeans take our security seriously, North Americans will rightly ask why they should. Unless we recommit to our own defence, we risk seeing America disengage -- and Europe and America drift apart. This is not what any of us would want. And it would benefit neither ourselves nor the rest of the world.

So I welcome today’s European Council. I welcome the recognition that defence matters. And I strongly hope that it will produce stronger and more capable European countries. Because that would benefit us all.

With that, I am ready to take your questions.

OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson):  We'll get to the Daily Telegraph first.  Over here.

Q: Bruno Waterfield, Daily Telegraph.  When... when the communication texts were first circulated for this discussion today, Britain was very concerned because...  Would NATO hardly featured at all? And Britain is concerned some of these defence discussions do not feature NATO as the primary source of Europe's defence.  Is that a concern that you share?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  Obviously, I'm not going to interfere with European Union deliberations on council conclusions. What I can say is that NATO is and will remain the bedrock of Euro-Atlantic security.  

And actually, I don't see any contradiction between a strengthened defence in Europe and a strong NATO.  On the contrary, if European nations decide to invest more in critical capabilities like observation drones, air-to-air refuelling and heavy transport; it will also make their contribution to NATO stronger. So a strong Europe also means a strong NATO.

Q: Dieter Eberling with DPA, the German Press Agency. Secretary General, the British Prime Minister said that Europe doesn't need more capabilities.  Europe needs more cooperation; but no capabilities.  Can we assume that you had a very serious word with Mr. Cameron about his opinion that no further capabilities are needed?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  We had an excellent exchange of views after my intervention today.  If I understand your question correctly, it's about who owns the capabilities.

I'm speaking about European nations.  I think European nations need to invest in critical capabilities; because operations....  During our operations, we learned where Europeans need more capacity.  And that is within observation drones, air-to-air refuelling, heavy transport.  

And I appreciate that the European Council will also focus on some of these critical capability areas.  So I'm not speaking about NATO possessing military capabilities or the European Union possessing military capabilities.  I'm speaking about the need for nations to do more to acquire much needed military capabilities.

OANA LUNGESCU: (lady over there)

Q: Bonjour, Leona Hubeau (?) pour Bruxelles 2.  J'aurais voulu vous demander: "Est-ce que vous pensez qu'une intervention européenne en RCA est nécessaire?"  Merci.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  In...?

OANA LUNGESCU: Central African Republic.  

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Tout d'abord, je vais exprimer mon appréciation pour l'action rapide et déterminée de la France au Mali et en République centre-africaine.  Ces opérations sont nécessaires pour lutter contre le terrorisme pour sauver des vies et en général pour stabiliser notre voisinage.  

L'instabilité et l'insécurité en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient auront un impact négatif sur l'Europe. Ces régions peuvent devenir des zones de prolifération du terrorisme et du trafic d'armes et de drogues.  Et l'Europe va venir sous la pression des réfugiés et les immigrés clandestins.  Et c'est pourquoi je salue l'action française.

Et laissez-moi souligner que la France n'est pas seule. Plusieurs alliés ont offert leur soutien actif.  Mais cela dit, nous avons besoin de plus de pays comme la France avec la capacité et la volonté d'agir.  

OANA LUNGESCU:  (Inaudible) Active, over here.

Q: Secretary General, Gabriel (?) of (inaudible) Active.  Secretary General, your answer in French convinced me that you answer to all possible requirements to get a top EU job.  Your mandate finishes next year.  And there will be plenty of top EU jobs for grabs.  Are you a candidate for any of them?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  (LAUGHTER) Actually, right now, I'm very much focused on the upcoming NATO Summit which will take place at the beginning of September, next year.  So I'm not starting reflections on my personal future after September 2014.  Now, I will give out all my time and efforts to prepare the Wales Summit to ensure a successful outcome of that summit.  

OANA LUNGESCU:  Jane's?

Q:  Yes, Brooks Tigner, Jane's Defence. Developing new capabilities does no good if they can't be rapidly deployed due to the lack of money.  So I was wondering.  Should the EU and NATO align their thinking about new ways to make more money available for deployment during operations? And if so, what would be your advice to the EU?  Thank you.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  I think there are three ways to make more efficient use of scarce resources within security and defence.  The first is of course to provide more funding; to increase investments in defence.  I'm realistic.  I do know that in the short term it will be difficult because of the economic crisis.  But I appreciate that actually I have seen some NATO Allies commit themselves to gradually reverse the trend and move gradually towards the 2% of the GDP benchmark for defence investment.  So I appeal to nations that once the economies recover they will also provide more funds for defence and security.  So that's of course the first way.

Secondly, I think in particular in the short term it is necessary to get more value for money; make more efficient use of resources through more multinational corporations.  We call it SMART Defence.  Within the European Union, we call it "pooling and sharing".  But it's two sides of the same coin:  that individual nations will see increase...  see it increasingly difficult to acquire the necessary military capabilities.  But if we help each other in multinational projects, we can.  So I think SMART Defence is the second way forward to make more efficient use of resources and get more military capabilities.  

And then, finally, the third way is to reallocate resources... to move resources into areas of future oriented military capabilities.  And that's also a reason why I appreciate what I think will be the outcome of the European Council meeting, namely a focus on for instance observation drones and air-to-air refueling; because we learned lessons.  These are areas where the Europeans need more capacity.

OANA LUNGESCU:  Defense News.

Q:  Yes, Julian Hale, Defense News.  You mentioned one of the areas. It was enabling a strong European industrial base. What for you was the best of the measures that are being proposed by the EU to improve the European industrial base?  And how could NATO work with the EU to help that process?

And secondly, on the heavy transport, the observation drones, are you at all concerned...?  Not all 28 member States are involved in these.  And also the timelines are quite a long way off.  Are you at all concerned that there'll be big gaps in the meantime?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  Speaking about heavy transport, I appreciate that European nations are focussing more and more on providing such heavy air transport.  

A number of European countries have joined efforts in acquiring...  I think if I remember correctly it's 170 heavy transport aircrafts.  And I highly appreciate that.  

And the first part of your question, eh....  Just a keyword!

Q:  (Inaudible)

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  Yes, about the industrial policy.  First of all, let me stress that it's for the European Union and not NATO, to deal with industrial policy. I have read with great interest the Commission communication on the defence industrial policies.  Again, I'm not going to interfere with EU decisions.  But personally, I do believe that one of the ways to develop a more competitive European defence industry is to open up markets and ensure a more well-functioning internal defence market in Europe.

OANA LUNGESCU:  Just the one over there.

Q:  Thank you, Andrew Byrne, Financial Times.  One of the guiding rules of CSTP (?) development was there should be no duplication.  But recently, we had a number of anti-piracy missions off the Gulf of Somalia.  It was EU now for a mission.  And there was a NATO mission.  And don't you think that such missions are doing essentially the same thing?  It should be either run as CSTP (?) missions or as NATO missions, rather than duplication side-by-side.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  Our counter-piracy missions are not duplicating each other.  Actually, I think they complement each other.  Because NATO can also bring to bear certain capacities that are not at the disposal of the European Union.  But I agree that we need close coordination and cooperation.  And actually our cooperation as regards counter-piracy works very, very well.  And as you also know, the joint international counter-piracy operation has been quite successful.  

Long ago, we saw the last successful piracy attack. Personally, I think we still need counter-piracy operations as a deterrence.

OANA LUNGESCU: One last question.  Lady over there.

Q:  Tina Friedrich, RD (?) Radio.  Hi.  My question is not so much about defence policy; but more about strategy concerning Ukraine.  Mister Schultz just said in a press conference that he thinks that within a year the opinion of Ukraine might change again and lean towards European Union instead Russia.  Where do you see the strategic way for Ukraine in this case?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN:  First of all, I would like to stress that we fully respect Ukraine's right to decide independently and freely their alliance affiliation and their relations with international organizations.  

I think it's an inherent principle that each individual nation has a right to freely choose.  Having said that, seen from my perspective, there's no doubt that the future of Ukraine lies within close cooperation with our Euro-Atlantic organizations: the European Union and NATO.

 And speaking about NATO, you will recall that back in 2008 we actually stated at the NATO Summit that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, of course, provided that they fulfil the necessary criteria and provided that Ukraine so wishes.  

Since then, the political leadership in Ukraine has pursued... after political leadership changed, they have pursued a so-called non-bloc policy.  We fully respect that.  But we also appreciate that Ukraine has decided to continue its close practical cooperation with NATO within the NATO-Ukraine Commission.  

And actually, Ukraine is a very active contributor to all NATO-led military operations, as well as NATO response force.  And recently, Ukraine also participated in a huge NATO exercise.  

So seen from that perspective, we have an ongoing very active cooperation with Ukraine. And I hope to see that cooperation further flourish in the coming years.

OANA LUNGESCU:  Thank you very much.