The EU’s defence ministers have agreed to draw up an inventory of projects where they can cooperate by sharing and pooling military capabilities in order to avoid duplication and cut costs at a time when defence budgets are being squeezed in the aftermath of the economic crisis. They have tasked the European Defence Agency (EDA) to draw up a list of potential cooperation projects and are hoping concrete decisions can be taken at their next formal meeting in December, said Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem, who chaired the informal meeting in Ghent, on 23-24 September. “The economic and budgetary context is forcing our member states to cooperate further,” he said after the meeting.

However, despite the broad agreement on the need for greater cooperation, there were divergences among the ministers. France launched some biting criticism of other EU nations for slashing military spending; Britain raised doubts about the usefulness of maintaining the EDA; and several ministers were again critical of the non-appearance of Catherine Ashton, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.

Ministers did not take a decision on appointing a new chief executive of the EDA to replace Germany’s Alexander Weis, whose mandate ends on 30 September. However, two front-runners for the post appear to be emerging: France’s Claude-France Arnould, who is currently the EU’s deputy director for crisis management and planning; and Carlo Magrassi, the EDA’s Italian deputy chief executive for strategy. There are also three more French candidates for the job.

French Defence Minister Hervé Morin warned his fellow ministers that without greater investment in defence, Europe risked becoming a “protectorate” in a world dominated by China and the United States unless it built up its military capabilities. “Most of European nations have given up on the simple of ambition of creating a military capacity that would allow them to have some weight in the world,” Morin told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. “If we continue at this rate, we risk Europe becoming a protectorate, 50 years from now we’ll be a plaything caught between the new powers and we’ll be under the joint dominion of China and America.”

Officials attending the informal talks in Ghent said Morin had made similar comments to ministers inside the meeting room. While several delegations were sceptical about Morin’s dire predictions, diplomats said ministers picked up on France’s suggestion that the EU create an inventory of military capabilities, which could be shared or pooled and those which capitals would want to keep under purely national control.

“The French had a very political approach, others are looking at the same issue from a more pragmatic and practical approach, looking at those areas where we can have pooling and sharing and working from the bottom up,” said one official involved in the talks. He said there was a broad consensus on increasing pooling in areas such as military training and education, tactical and strategic transport, logistics, communications and surveillance.

Officials also spoke about growing support for the creation of a multinational European helicopter wing that could be held in reserve for civil emergencies or military operations. They said there are several such projects going on around Europe, but that the EU needs to take a more systematic approach to the ideas of sharing and pooling.

Morin and some other ministers were again critical of Ashton for failing to show up for her second informal defence ministers’ meeting in a row. “We need the EU institutions to show willingness. Mrs Ashton should carry forward a European ambition, the states can’t do it on their own,” Morin said. Ashton spoke to the ministers via video link from New York, where she was attending the United Nations General Assembly. However, ministers complained that her appearance was too brief and did not allow for a prolonged debate.

Another stay-away from the meeting was Britain’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who before he took over as minister in the Conservative-led coalition government in May had been a critic of close EU defence integration. Officials said Fox’s stand-in, Gerald Howarth, the minister for international security strategy, expressed doubts about the usefulness of the European Defence Agency, which other nations would like to see play an expanded role in coordinating armaments cooperation. Morin complained that Britain’s long-standing veto of an increased budget for the agency was holding back its effectiveness.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy did briefly attend the meeting and pointed to existing examples of cooperation, which could be expanded on a European level.

“There is a lot of discussion going on about the strain defence budgets are under in times of cutbacks,” he said. “However, what is pressure and limitation at the national level could also be a major opportunity at the European level. Belgium cooperates closely with the Netherlands, for instance in running the F16 fleet. Belgium also was a pioneer in the Eurocorps, together with France, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg.”