Warsaw, 23/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The main points for discussion at the informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Wroc³aw on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 September were Libya, counter-piracy operations off Somalia, the Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the development of EU security and defence capabilities.
The meeting, described by Polish minister Tomasz Siemaniuk, who was in the chair in the absence of Catherine Ashton, as “concrete and very constructive”, did not bring any great progress on the most burning issues, however.
The first item on the table, on Thursday 22 September, being Libya, the meeting began in an “oppressive” atmosphere, acknowledged French minister Gérard Longuet, as it was “an exchange where everyone kept his head down”. The ministers made recommendations on the need for feedback from experience and an analysis of EU military capabilities. One important point is that no definite plan to assist Libya in the disarming process or the management of its borders was adopted. “There is no pressing need”, stated the French minister.
Continuation of EU anti-piracy operations now has “very wide support”, according to Siemaniuk, even though states are not falling over themselves to make their contribution. Although Sweden has said it was ready to reinforce operations in the near future, no formal intention has yet been communicated, according to an adviser close to the Polish minister. Yet the situation in Somalia continues to deteriorate. For that reason, Spanish minister Carme Chacón proposed during the meeting to extend the EUTM Somalia operation (which trains Somali recruits in Uganda) or to put in place a new operation to train Somali coastguards. This proposal will now be discussed and assessed by the other European governments.
Killing two birds with one stone was the idea that defence ministers had in discussing the possibility of using EU battlegroups to take forward EU operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR Althea). The double advantage is in proposing a solution to operations which have run out of ideas while at the same time addressing the concerns of a number of member states of the usefulness of maintaining battlegroups which have yet to be used. Austria and Hungary proposed a “reserve force” in the form of EU battlegroups which would be ready to take action if required, the only troops who would remain on the ground being the units training the Bosnian forces. This proposal was met with suspicion by the UK. (JK/transl.rt)