El Futuro de la cooperación Unión European - OTAN

Panel II: “ Lecciones aprendidas de la cooperación y
perspectivas futuras”
MODERADOR: ALMIRANTE FERNANDO DEL POZO,
Real Instituto Elcano
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
As we have heard this morning in a very
interesting panel on the political aspects
in the NATO-EU relationship, we have
arrived to the military side of the business.
I promise you that you will enjoy it because
I know the quality and ability of the three
panellists.
However, as moderator, my duty is not just
to introduce the panellists, but also to try
to steer the discussion in the appropriate
direction. Seeing that this is made out of
military, you will be tempted to think in
terms of operations, to discuss whether,
for instance, the transfer of the operation
responsibility in Bosnia Herzegovina, was
good, it was successful. I would like to
disabuse you from that idea, to steer you
away from thinking in terms of operations.
Why so? Because there’s a French piece
of wisdom that I like very much and it
goes like this: “It’s not only important that
something works in practice, you have to
make sure it also works in theory”. And
that’s because even if things go perfectly
well on the ground, that doesn’t guarantee
success because, simply, circumstances are
peaceful, are normal, but when something
outdoors happens, the theoretical aspects
(from the military point of view we call
it Plans and Policy) need to have all
corners covered: the potential problems,
disagreement among the nations, lack of
coordination, etc.
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