The General Director of National Defence Policy and International Relations Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos participated in the Informal Meeting of the European Union’s Defence Policy Directors held in Paris on 4 May 2022. The focus of the debate was the implementation of the Strategic Compass adopted by the European Council in March 2022.
At the working session on defence spending and capability development, Mr Balomenos stressed that recent developments in Ukraine further underline the need for meaningful European strategic autonomy. He highlighted the importance of investing in European defence, in line with the objectives of the “Strategic Compass” and supported the specific treatment of certain categories of defence expenditure with regard to EU fiscal rules and fiscal deficit criteria.
“We need to make full use of the EU’s instruments and tools to boost our defence investment and strengthen the EU’s defence and technological industrial base,” he stated, demonstrating the importance of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund (EDF) as powerful tools for defence investment and filling critical capability gaps.
He supported the collaborative approach to innovation, and emerging and disruptive technologies, due to their impact on future military capabilities and operations and suggested that incentives for Member States to invest in defence be further explored.
During the working lunch on the development of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), Mr Balomenos made it clear that the issue of CSDP missions and operations, in particular after the invasion of Ukraine, will require further strategic discussion and political guidance, while strengthening the CSDP footprint will require a change in the model of action. “The EU’s efforts should target the following four principles: reliability, agility, influence and continuity,” he said, adding that ensuring a clear command structure and responsive production of forces and instruments would enhance the flexibility and effectiveness of CSDP actions.
In addition, he stressed the value of Strategic Communication during the battle, as a critical weapon against manipulation and interference of foreign information. Finally, the further development of strong civilian-military coordination will enhance better exploitation of the added value resulting from the development of both civilian and military actions in the same theatre of operations.
