The plan seemed largely to work, though there's no denying the specter of uncertainty the EU is now working under, as it moves forward with improving its members' ability to defend themselves and each other without knowing whether and how Trump will indeed curb NATO's collective-defense capacity, as threatened.
Mogherini presented plans to the foreign ministers - joined Monday afternoon by their defense counterparts - that include upscaled ambition for funding defense capabilities, acquiring more equipment, and getting the longstanding but never-deployed "EU battle groups" into useful service.
No 'EU army'
She envisions there could eventually be an operational "headquarters" established to coordinate both EU military and civilian missions, of which there are currently 16 utilizing five different operational headquarters hosted by member states. But she is not, Mogherini has reiterated emphatically, calling for an "EU army"; EU officials insist that term appears nowhere in planning documents for stepped-up defense plans.
As the fighting in Syria's Aleppo continues to worsen, foreign ministers added 17 Syrian officials and the governor of the central bank to the 216 other individuals already on the EU sanctions list for "being responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria, benefiting from or supporting the regime, and/or being associated with such persons."
Ministers went ahead with reaffirming their commitment to the multilateral agreement curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. The deal, to which Washington is a signatory, remains controversial in the US and could be one of the first direct conflicts with the new US president. He calls it "worst deal ever negotiated" and has promised he'll do everything possible to get out of it. Mogherini helped shepherd the accord to a conclusion.
Though French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault skipped the confab Sunday night, he made his views clear Monday. Ayrault pointed out that the world's uncertainty hadn't started with the Trump win, and that Europe must "not wait for others' decisions; it must defend its own interests" by strengthening its global role.
Potential Trump truces cause concern
But the biggest concerns are about whether the new US leader will cozy up, as some fear, to hard-line leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and even Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Reynders has frequently complained that major international issues are already being discussed primarily between Washington and Moscow, urging Brussels to assert itself more effectively.
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said better US-Russian relations would be a positive development "as long as it's not at the cost of the EU." But Asselborn also got in a jab at the Trump campaign's comportment, saying it was going to be up the EU to defend human rights, since "one side" in the US electoral race hadn't paid much attention to such concerns.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, perhaps predictably given his own country's position, urged everybody to just keep calm, saying there was a "lot to be positive about" with the election of "dealmaker" Trump.
"We should regard it as a moment of opportunity," Johnson said. "I think [his election] could be a good thing for Britain, but it could also be a good thing for Europe."
But some might query whether that is not perhaps mutually exclusive.
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Council Conclusions on Implementing the EU Global Strategy in the Area of Security and Defence
The implementation plan on security and defence was presented by the High Representative, taking into account her roles as Vice-President of the European Commission and Head of the European Defence Agency, to member states at the Council meeting.
The Council adopted conclusions on implementing the EU global strategy in the area of security and defence. These conclusions set out the level of ambition as well as concrete actions. These actions will assist the EU and its member states in addressing further Europe's current and future security and defence needs.
The implementation plan on security and defence is part of the follow-up to the EU global strategy on foreign and security policy. The High Representative presented the EU global strategy "Shared vision, common action: a stronger Europe" to the European Council on 28 June. The strategy is intended to guide EU foreign and security policy in the years to come. The Council adopted conclusions on the global strategy on 17 October 2016.
Security and defence is one of the priority areas for the work on implementation of the EU global strategy, which also includes resilience building and integrated approach to conflicts and crises, strengthening the nexus between internal and external policies, updating existing or preparing new regional and thematic strategies and stepping up public diplomacy efforts.
The work on security and defence is conducted in synergy with the work on the Commission European Defence Action Plan as well as in regards to the implementation of the joint declaration by the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO. The implementation plan, together with the Council conclusions, is expected to be presented at the European Council meeting of December.
Click below for:
-- Implementation plan on security and defence (31 PDF pages)
-- Council conclusions on security and defence (16 PDF pages)
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