Solana : 'La PESC doit être compatible avec la stratégie de l'UE'[en] 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking at the signing of the Berlin Declaration on 25 March 2007, said: "A common Foreign and Security Policy in Europe is...absolutely vital. But, of course, this policy should not be isolationist but must be based on co-operation with partners outside Europe. I firmly believe that close, amicable relations with the United States of America and a strong NATO are and will remain in Europe's fundamental interest...In our Berlin Declaration we expressly state our commitment to continue promoting democracy, stability and prosperity beyond the borders of the European Union. The importance of this commitment cannot be overestimated." 

Speaking in Parliament on 29 March 2007, Solana rejected suggestions that the EU in fact has no common foreign policy, and that the lack of firm legal basis for foreign co-operation was aggravated by 2004 enlargement, in addition to the classic political divisions of Russia-friendly EU states such as Germany, France and Italy and the pro-US, Russia-wary club of the UK, Poland and the Czech Republic.

• Regarding the proposed  US anti-missile defence system ,  on which the United States wants to reach an agreement by the end of 2007 on deploying anti-missile defenses in eastern Europe, Solana said: "There is no decision by EU on this, the EU is not a defensive alliance, but does have external and security policy and can and should debate this subject...Any such system can affect our relations with Russia. The treaties in force allocated sovereignty over this issue to the member states, but this must be compatible with EU's general interest in security," he said, indicating he would be happy to see this discussed in the Atlantic structures. He added that "the EU is not a defensive alliance, but does have external and security policy and can and should debate this subject".
• Meanwhile, the European Defence Agency (EDA) launched a new business portal offering smaller European companies the chance to take advantage of increased cross-border sub-contracting opportunities in defence procurement on 29 March. According to EDA Chairman Nick Witney, the aim is to spur Europe's largest defence firms to use the mechanism to advertise business opportunities for subcontractors across the bloc, thus giving smaller companies more chance to compete for contracts outside their home country.

• Of the EU's 27 member states, 22 have so far agreed to post some defence contracts on the existing bulletin board, where there are currently about 140 tenders, with a total value of approximately €7 billion ($9bn). Defence officials estimate the total size of the EU defence market at around €23.5bn per year, around half of which is already open under internal market rules. Under a code of conduct agreed by member states when they launched the original bulletin board last year, EU governments have pledged to use existing rules, that allow them to exempt defence contracts from usual cross-border competition on grounds of national security, sparingly. Of Europe's largest defence companies, 28 have already appointed co-ordinators to the tendering mechanism, which will use an internet-based bulletin board on which contracts are posted. Witney said that the new bulletin board would be launched with some 100 tender opportunities available, but could not give a total value for the amount of business on offer

CFSP High Representative Javier Solana, who recently returned from the Arab League Summit in Riyadh , acknowledged the Berlin Declaration marking 50 years of the EU on 25 March 2007: "It sets down marks for the future development of European Union in all fields and the common foreign policy is one of major challenges EU needs to face. The rest of world has major desire for the EU to have ever clearer role in foreign policy. People are asking us to be present in the most disparate places and conflicts. They want things done in a European way and with an effective European foreign policy. We want that too."

Solana was adamant that the EU line could be succesfully promoted on foreign policy issues, pointing to his own intervention in the Arab League Summit in Riyadh on 28 March, and that the EU could succesfully negotiate and assist in issues concerning the new Palestinian Authority government, Iran, and Darfur. 

Roger Helmer (NI, UK) said: "The CFSP and its military posturing threaten to undermine the Transatlantic Alliance. It is born out of jealousy and resentment and anti-Americanism. It is overweight with strategies and planning papers and staff colleges but desperately light on men and ships and tanks and guns and aircraft. The CFSP threatens the very foundations of security and leaves us all dangerously exposed in an unpredictable world. This is yet another reason why my country would be better off out of the European Union."