Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini upon arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council:
Check against delivery!
Today with the Ministers – not only Foreign Ministers but also Defence Ministers as you know – I will present the plans to implement the Global Strategy of the European Union on security and defence.
I believe this is going to be a very important step, so I will tell you more this afternoon. I see that among all Member States there is an expectation to go ahead on this so I will see how they react to my proposals, but I believe we will have a good basis for discussion and decision today.
We will also have the first occasion for Ministers to exchange views in person about the recent developments in Turkey. As you know, we have already reacted, in a united way, to the latest developments in Turkey following the arrest of the leaders of HDP and other measures that were taken in the last couple of weeks, expressing in the name of the 28 Member States our very serious concerns about developments in the country, especially related to the media freedom but also the debate about the death penalty. We will exchange views with the Ministers on that.
We will also have a point, very important point, on Eastern partnership – preparing the Summit next year and also assessing the level of support we are continuing to give convincingly with all our Eastern partners in a differentiated way, all six of them, and this will be a part of our agenda that I think will be very important.
I will also update Ministers on my work in the last weeks on Syria, outreach I have done regionally –especially Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, on trying to find a common ground among regional powers on the post-conflict in Syria, the future of Syria, not only the economic reconstruction but most of all, the political transition. We see that today the role of the European Union in the region can be even more important than before.
So, we have a full agenda, with all the priorities clearly indicated, and I expect a very productive meeting and, again, with some concrete decisions at the end of the day, especially when it comes to the Eastern Partnership and the Defence and Security Plan. Thank you.
Q&A
Q. Last week you said that the EU needs to become a superpower. What did you mean by that?
A. No, I said that the European Union is a superpower.
Q. What did you think about an EU army?
A. I said it repeatedly. I said it in June, in July, in August, in September, in October, now it is November… I hope December will be the last time that I repeat it so it becomes clear. It is not about a EU army. It is about a European Union Security and Defence that becomes more credible and more effective than it is today. We have already a lot of work that we are doing in the world for the security of European citizens in the field of security of defence. We have 17 missions and operations we run under the EU flag. All of them extremely important, but some of them directly linked either to UN peacekeeping operations or like Operation Sophia dealing with the smugglers in the Mediterranean.
So we have already a profile on security and defence but we have a lot of potential that we don’t utilise yet. And there is a need to strengthen our security profile. It is what our citizens need, it is what our citizens ask and expect from us. We have the instruments in the treaties – so my proposals this afternoon will be about using the full potential of the treaty, then we will see how far the Member States will want to go in this respect. But again we have the potential, we have the instruments, we have the need to go in that direction. It is not about hypothetical work or the theoretical work about something that might or might not happen 50 years from now. It is about doing concrete things as of tomorrow together.
Q. On Turkey – Should the accession talks be stopped now?
A. This is not what the Foreign Ministers will discuss; this is something that falls under the competences of the General Affairs Council that will be for December. You have seen the recent progress report just published earlier last week. But again, I think it will be a very important moment for us to discuss with the Ministers in person what we have discussed among us last week, expressing a common, united position on developments in Turkey, with a clear engagement, channels open every single day with the Turkish authorities, also with the Turkish opposition, expressing a very clear, engaged, constructive approach, united most of all.
