Leadership Quote by Javier Solana

Certainty is the main rhetorical weapon here: “We all know” shuts down debate before it starts, collapsing a messy political argument into a shared, supposedly obvious definition. Solana isn’t just describing counterterrorism; he’s trying to stabilize a contested story at a moment when “fighting terrorism” had become a floating signifier, used to justify everything from intelligence sharing to immigration crackdowns to military intervention. By asserting common understanding, he pre-emptively delegitimizes skeptics who might ask whose terrorism counts, what methods are acceptable, or whether “terror” is being used as cover for other priorities.

The second move is the word “reality,” a subtle jab at appearances. It suggests that public spats, cultural friction, and North-South mistrust are surface noise; behind the scenes, institutions are aligned. That’s comforting to European audiences anxious about security and migration across the Mediterranean, and it’s also a message to partner governments in North Africa and the Middle East: you’re not being treated as outsiders, you’re inside the tent.

“Total cooperation” is the tell. It’s aspirational, not descriptive. Counterterrorism partnerships are rarely total; they’re transactional, conditional, and often strained by human-rights concerns, regime legitimacy, and domestic politics. Solana’s phrasing papers over asymmetry: the North typically sets the terms, the South absorbs the pressure, and both sides benefit from the ambiguity. The line functions as diplomatic glue, meant to normalize a security-first Mediterranean relationship while minimizing the moral and political costs that such cooperation can entail.