Strasbourg, 3 June – Mr Antonio Martino, Minister for Defence of Italy, said on Tuesday that Defence Europe should be thought of as complementary to NATO, not as an “alternative” to it.

Addressing the WEU Assembly on the eve of  Italy’s taking over the EU/WEU Presidency, Mr Martino pointed to the fact that his country regarded the European security and defence dimension as a factor of major strategic importance, in a spirit of complementarity – as part of a loyal and balanced relationship between the two shores of the Atlantic – and not of antagonism. The Italian Presidency intended to endeavour to consolidate the relationship between NATO and the European Union, while stressing the need to maintain coherence and transparency in regard to military capabilities, avoiding any duplication of forces.

The Minister therefore particularly welcomed the prospect of the establishment of the EU Headline Goal force, adding that the possibility of having access to NATO capabilities for EU-led operations in which NATO did not wish to be directly involved, remained a priority, even if this meant making a major effort to reconcile the overriding need for independent decision-making with the demands of strategic partnership. However, he also emphasised that Europe had to have means that were adequate, in both qualitative and quantitative terms, to ensure that the international responsibility that the EU sought to take on was built on solid foundations.

The Minister also spoke of widening the range of Petersberg tasks, progressively empowering the EU to take on more demanding operations when it came to crisis settlement. This “powering up” of Defence Europe would, he explained, be achieved through significant progress in European cooperation in the armaments sector. In reply to a question put by Mr Finn Marthinsen (Norway-CDP), Mr Martino opined that it was in Europe’s interest to draw the non-EU WEAG nations into partnership in the work of the future European Armaments Agency. Among the initiatives the Italian Presidency intends to take is the organisation of  a “defence/industry symposium”, to be held in Brussels in November 2003, in order to foster European armaments cooperation.

Mr Martino also made reference in his speech to the fact that the Italian Presidency would give particular emphasis to the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue. He made the point that the fight against international terrorism, in which we were all involved, was adversely influencing European Council initiatives for encouraging mutual understanding and transparency between the Union and its Mediterranean partners