Brussels, 20/12/2013 (EDD) - During his press conference on Thursday evening, the president of the French Republic, François Hollande, explained step by step how he intended to gain European funding for French intervention in the Central African Republic (see also EUROPE 10985). He then went on to reconsider and explained that, when all is said and done, the important thing is that Europeans should make a collective contribution to the security of the country and that “France should not be alone”. “I wanted revision of the system for funding operations”, Hollande said, welcoming the fact that the European Council conclusions call on the High Representative to prepare a report (the text states “rapidly”, which the French president believes should be during the first half of 2014) on the funding of European missions and operations, including review of the Athena mechanism, for the funding of common costs incurred by operations.
Pending the report in question, the French president then said he hoped the Athena mechanism would be deployed immediately to fund France's Operation Sangaris in the Central African Republic, before going on to concede that this required making the operation a European operation. This, however, can be done “tomorrow”, he said. Already several countries - Germany, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom - have begun to provide logistical support, he said, speaking of the “advanced contacts” with Poland in particular “to bring in human elements, forces for operations that can be complementary to our forces”. “If this is confirmed, as could be the case tomorrow, it will be a European operation with a European objective”, he added.
To the question of which European troops would be ready to complement the forces already deployed, Hollande explained: “The Polish have already informed us that 50 men, airmen, would be present in Central Africa to ensure aircraft maintenance”. Others could provide contributions in the medical field, transport and logistics, and part of the costs could be borne by the Athena mechanism. “Not everything would be financed. France has pre-positioned troops in Africa. The troops from Gabon are already paid by the French, whether or not they are acting as an intervention force”, he explained, going on to add that, when all is said and done, the important thing is not so much the funding but “for there to be a European presence at our side”. He then said: “What I am hoping for is for there to be a political presence from Europe - that is very important so that it cannot be said France is acting alone”.
Pressed for clarification on procedures to be followed, the French president acknowledged that “Ms Merkel is right to say that, in order to have a European operation, there needs to be a European decision”. “For now, we do not have European deliberations. If we had waited for the EU Council of Ministers to meet before taking action, it would have been too late. France did not have a European mandate. We must follow procedure, and refer the matter to the Foreign Affairs Council (Ed.: the next meeting is scheduled 20 January 2014) so that there is a formal European decision of support”, he said.
During her press conference, Angela Merkel said there could only be a European operation if three conditions were met: a United Nations mandate (for now, the EU does not have one - only France has received the mandate to support MISCA, she recalled); a European decision; and complementary national contributions. It might have been possible to provide more help if consultation had taken place before the French intervention had been triggered, she said, hinting that France had no doubt feared the slowness of decision-making procedures.
After underlining that “France has in recent months become our key partner with regards defence”, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that support for the French operation will be “logistical and technical in the field of air transport”. There will be up to 50 Polish military personnel, he added, explaining: “We are not sending them for combat operations”. “We foresee that, as was the case in Mali”, action in CAR “should be a European commitment”, Tusk said, going on to add that the “EU as a whole will make every effort to support France”. (JK/CG/OJ/transl.jl).