French media reported Sunday that French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen had filed a proposal to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to set up the bloc's collective defense through facilitation of EU collective defense operations, building a common satellite surveillance system and establishing EU joint military headquarters.
"The main problem with a satellite surveillance system is who will be gathering and storing information and where this data will go. I do not believe in an absolute principle of equality, I think that at one moment one side may take advantage," Nicolas Dhuicq said.
"I am against, for the moment, of the EU joint military headquarters because we do not have same final goals. For example, France and Germany do not have same interests in questions of foreign policy. In France’s interests is to cooperate on the security matters with the United Kingdom rather than with Germany," Dhuicq stated, pointing that London and Paris have a long history of military cooperation.
The lawmaker believes that the collective EU defense initiative is likely to fail as the countries do not have common political systems, history and interests.
The German-French initiative will reportedly be discussed at the upcoming informal EU summit in Bratislava slated for Friday.