Brussels, 23/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - Crisis management development capabilities will be the only subject discussed at the informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Ghent on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 September at the invitation of Belgium's defence minister, Pieter De Crem. The aim of this “discussion” will be to reach, albeit informally, a “clear and collective” political vision of capabilities development to support military and civil-military crisis management missions, De Crem explains in a letter addressed to his counterparts. Debate should also be aimed at finding answers for bolstering European capabilities, which is a necessity if the EU hopes to develop its role as a player on the international security stage in the context of the general decline in defence spending.
The meeting will begin with a dinner reserved solely for ministers, during which they will look at the new instruments set out in the Lisbon Treaty in the field of common security and defence policy (CSDP), objectives that the EU hopes to reach through implementation and relations between the EU and NATO. De Crem is also to brief ministers on the results of the meeting of political directors, and of a seminar of experts on permanent structured cooperation (the new form of multinational cooperation foreseen by the Lisbon Treaty on CSDP) and the Brussels Defence Debate which took place on 17 and 18 September. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton will take part in the opening of the work using video link from New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Two working sessions are foreseen the following day. The first should allow a technical discussion to be held on capability issues, in the presence of the director for the planning and crisis management directorate, France-Claude Arnoud, Military Committee Chairman General Håken Syrén, Chief of EU Military Staff General Ton van Osch, and Director of the European Defence Agency Alexander Weis. This first working session should allow areas to be identified where intra-European cooperation can contribute to capabilities development and determine policy directives for cooperation that the states hope to achieve at European level. Ministers will exchange views and share their experience on mechanisms and instruments for cooperation, areas likely to come under more advanced cooperation, the pooling of means, the role of the European Defence Agency, and specialisation. At the civil-military level, ministers could have an exchange of views in order to identify areas with the greatest potential for research and development for dual purpose goods, and settle the issue of possible Community funding for research in this field. Neither is it to be ruled out that ministers will, during this first session, continue the debate held the previous day. The second session, to be attended by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will be devoted to the development of capabilities in cooperation with EU partners. Possibilities for supporting or strengthening UN and African Union means of action and concrete cooperation between the EU and NATO for capabilities development will be the focus of the discussion. The Belgian Presidency, which developed the programme for the meeting in close cooperation with Catherine Ashton, did not foresee tackling EU operations during the meeting. These should be the subject, De Crem pointed out, of the formal defence ministers' meeting, the date of which has still to be determined. (A.By./transl.jl)