Setting the Tone
The 2013 French defence White Paper presents a strategic analysis and capability assessment that address the pressing concerns posed by austerity cuts to defence budgets, instability in Europe's neighbourhood, and US rebalancing towards the Asia-Pacific. It proposes ways in which France – and Europe – can remain strategically relevant in this changing environment. In doing so, argues Luis Simón, the White Paper provides a useful blueprint for the European Council meeting in December 2013.
Quel format d’armée pour la France ?
Avec les experiences multiples de l’apres-guerre froide, les appareils militaires des puissances voient reapparaitre la guerre limitee, et decouvrent l’asymetrie entre les protagonistes de ces guerres limitees. Pour le format futur de nos armees, il faut donc privilegier une logique d’emploi et une logique d’action, par opposition a de simples exigences de demonstration diplomatique. Des logiques qui doivent se traduire par un modele composite couvrant tout le spectre des engagements possibles a l’avenir.
Britain, France and the European Defence Initiative
Since late 1998, a Franco-British engine has driven remarkable progress in European defence. Continued progress, however, will depend on a basic agreement on ultimate goals between the leading partners. Are the French and the British really on the same wavelength? Are their visions for ESDP equally compatible with a strengthened and re-balanced Alliance? While London and Paris have successfully married their policies for the short-term, it is unclear whether, in the longer term, their strategic ambitions can be reconciled. France wants to promote a European project (ESDP) by using an Atlanticist instrument (NATO). The UK aims first and foremost to preserve the cohesion of the Alliance, by using a European instrument (ESDP). The compatibility of these aims in the long term will depend on the evolution of the Alliance itself. Without genuine mutual understanding and a clear common purpose - particularly between London and Paris - the Alliance could begin to unravel.