Policy

I was heard as a European defence expert by members of the French Senate's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence (March 2019).

"The European Defence Fund: How the European Commission is becoming a defence actor", IRSEM Rsearch Paper N° 56, 2018.

The European Defence Fund represents the culmination of the European Commission’s progressive emergence as a defence actor. The origins of the European Defence Fund were marked by the Commission’s strong political commitment and activism. Because it has no legal competence in the area of defence, the Commission used its existing economic competences, which has led to a tension between economic and strategic interests in the negotiation. In order to be able to manage the European Defence Fund, the Commission will have to strengthen its technical expertise in the area of defence, which will likely lead to bureaucratic rivalry between the Commission and the European Defence Agency and the European External Action Service. More generally, the European Defence Fund is part of a new and broader focus on budgetary instruments in European Union defence policy, aimed at strengthening cooperation among member states.

"France, Poland and the Relaunch of EU Defence Cooperation" in Barbara Jankowski and Amélie Zima (eds), France and Poland Facing the Evolution of the Security Environment, Etude de l'IRSEM N° 59, 2018, pp.77–84.

This article looks back at the causes of the revival of European defence in the 2010s. Several cyclical factors can explain this recovery: financial reasons, such as the crisis encouraging economies of scale, security reasons such as terrorism and political reasons, such as the election of Trump and Brexit. While the Member States have largely supported this revival, the author nevertheless points out that the EU is facing a geostrategic dilemma: the need to face security issues in both the South and East. However, from the example of EUFOR Bangui, he shows that this dilemma can be overcome by transactions between Member States.