Paris, 5 October 2007 – On 3 October, French Prime Minister François Fillon invited the President of the Assembly, Jean-Pierre Masseret, to call on him to discuss democratic scrutiny of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and the future priorities of the French EU and WEU Presidencies (July to December 2008 for the European Union, January-December 2008 for WEU). As French President Nicolas Sarkozy and France’s State Secretary for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet announced in late August, European defence is one of the French Presidency’s major political priorities. On 11 September in Toulouse, French Defence Minister Hervé Morin also emphasised that France gave priority to the support and renewal of the European Security and Defence Policy. Work would go on in a number of areas, in particular EU planning and command, interoperability of European forces, armaments cooperation and operational funding. In order to make progress on European defence, France also intended to clarify its position within NATO.

The Prime Minister indicated his willingness to examine any proposal put forward by the Assembly on strengthening parliamentary scrutiny of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). He expressed his appreciation of the quality of the Assembly reports and he intended to raise the question of ESDP parliamentary scrutiny during France’s EU/WEU Presidency.

The Assembly makes it possible for the national parliamentarians of European countries collectively to put forward relevant policy recommendations to European governments. In this way, for as long as there is no common defence in the EU, the Assembly contributes to making good the Union’s democratic deficit.