France: defence cooperation

The Franco-UK bilateral summit this week is an opportunity to boost defence cooperation between the two countries.

Paris intends to prioritise the European Security and Defence Policy -- a major pillar of the EU's international security strategy -- during its forthcoming EU presidency, particularly its new plan to enhance European defence capabilities via closer cooperation between the six largest EU member states.

This emphasis on capabilities may prove attractive to the UK government. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair reversed years of UK hostility to the idea of an EU defence capability precisely because he saw such a capability as a means of persuading other member states to contribute more to Western security.

French proposals to enhance military capabilities rather than simply create new institutional structures -- of which London has traditionally been suspicious -- will therefore interest the UK military establishment. Of the EU-6, only France and the United Kingdom spend the proposed minimum of 2% of GDP on defence.