European countries aim to deepen defense cooperation

During the 54th three-day Munich Security Conference (MSC), which ended here on Sunday, European Union countries focused discussions on how to build a collective frame for their own security.

TRANS-ATLANTIC UNCERTAINTIES

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office over one year ago, the trans-Atlantic ties have been burdened by uncertainties.

In the realm of security, European countries started to feel unsecured as Trump's administration kept pushing them to increase their defense spending to meet the goal of 2 percent of GDP.

Trump criticized European leading power of Germany, for example, multiple times for its far low defense spending.

At MSC, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced her country's plan to increase defense spending, while criticizing Trump's proposed deep spending cuts to diplomacy, development aid and the United Nations could threaten international security as much as a failure to invest enough in military.

"Trust of European countries in the U.S. commitment to their security is diminishing after repeated disappointment," Gu Xuewu, director of Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn, told Xinhua.

Transatlantic relations will be tested by lack of trust, he added.

FRANCO-German INITIATIVE

As trans-Atlantic relations became uncertainties, Germany and France, the two biggest European countries, intended to strengthen their cooperation.

Speaking to the security elite audience at MSC, defense ministers of both countries pledged to redouble their military and foreign policy cooperation efforts and called

"Europe has to up its pace in the face of global challenges from terrorism, poverty and climate change," von der Leyen said. "Those who want to must be able to advance without being blocked by individual countries."

She was echoed by her French counterpart Florence Parly, who said that any such deepened cooperation would be complementary to the NATO alliance, which itself was based on the principle that members contributed differently depending on their capacities.

But Gu warned as Germany and France deepen their cooperations, worries of the U.S. about its European allies' loyalty could rise.

PESCO UNDER QUESTION

In December 2017, 25 European Union countries agreed on the defense initiative "Permanent Structured Cooperation" (PESCO), a pact that pledged to develop common defense projects, pool money, assess resources and make collective decisions and deployments.

"We made a huge step forward ... we have a legal frame around the European Defense Union for the very first time," said von der Leyen.

She said the involved countries plan to come up with the first PESCO projects by the middle this year.

But questions even concerns about PESCO lingered. Some argued that since cooperation and coordination of all EU countries are essential, it would be hard for PESCO to make any further progress.

The readiness of the required financial commitment as well as political still remain a big question mark.

In addition, PESCO arouse uneasiness of the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned that Europe's push for deeper cooperation in defense could cause waste of duplication.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed EU's efforts to strengthen the bloc's defense cooperation at MSC, but he warned that EU cooperation should not replace NATO, but instead strengthen "the European pillar within NATO".

Founded in 1963, the annual MSC has become a forum dedicated to promoting peaceful conflict resolution and international cooperation and dialogue.

The 55th MSC will be held on Feb. 15-17, 2019.