1998-2008: ten years have passed since the signature of the St-Malo agreement between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, which gave rise to European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Within a decade the strategic situation has changed radically: it has seen a rise in violence in the Middle East, an increase in tension with Russia and an erosion of the United States’s prestige and power, not to mention more transverse threats such as nuclear proliferation, global warming and threats to energy supplies. Europeans have to face the rapid deterioration in their collective security.

Given this situation, it is all the more necessary for European Union (EU) member states to have a joint vision of the world at large, and that they move towards the establishment of a true European foreign, security and defence policy. This is one of the priorities of the French presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008. President Sarkozy has said that he wants France to rejoin NATO command structures and to draw closer to the Atlantic Alliance and ESDP. According to a Eurobarometer survey published in September 2007, 75 per cent of Europeans interviewed are in favour of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) whilst 68 per cent of them favour the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).⁽¹⁾

Nicolas Sarkozy has to take advantage of this rise in Europeans’ interest in defence issues and of favourable public opinion to bring European governments towards assuming their responsibilities clearly: Europe cannot simply be an economic power, it also has to be able to ensure its own defence and protection—if only to defend its place in the world and its values.