Brussels, 20/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 22 and Friday and 23 September, EU defence ministers are to gather in Wroc³aw (Poland) to discuss military operations, capabilities and partnerships. In the absence of the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, who is taking part in the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the meeting will be chaired by the Polish defence minister.
Business will start on Thursday with a dinner devoted to operations, providing an opportunity for stock to be taken of Operation Althea (Bosnia), Operation Atalanta (Indian Ocean), support for strengthened maritime capability in Indian Ocean rim countries, EUTM Somalia (European training mission deployed in Uganda for Somali security forces) and strategic aspects relating to North Africa. The possibility of a security sector reform assistance operation, to support the United Nations and at the request of the Libyan authorities, in particular for controlling the movement of weapons, is due to be discussed in this context.
On Friday, a first working session will cover the subject of capabilities, in particular from the angle of pooling and sharing, with the participation of Executive Director of the European Defence Agency Claude-France Arnould, who has recently returned from the United States. She will brief ministers on the content of talks during her US visit and present the initial results of work carried out at the Agency with a view to identifying the priority areas of cooperation during this period of budgetary constraint. The Polish Presidency hopes also to rekindle discussion on battlegroups (GT-1500), and on how to make their conditions of engagement more flexible. Finally, in the wake of the “Letter from the Five” (Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Poland) to Catherine Ashton in early September, the Polish Presidency hopes to cover once more the need for improved planning and the proposal aimed at creating a permanent operations planning and conduct capability. We recall that the creation of this permanent civil-military headquarters is still coming up against British veto and that the above five countries state in their letter the possibility of using the permanent structured cooperation mechanism set out in Article 42.6 of the Treaty on European Union in order to circumvent the veto, unanimity not being required to set up permanent structured cooperation. The Presidency hopes to achieve concrete results with regard to capabilities by the end of the year.
The informal meeting of EU defence ministers will conclude with a second working session devoted to EU relations with its two main security partners, the UN and NATO. (- Adapted from Europe Diplomacy & Defence No445)