The new Director of the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) and the Civilian Operations Commander of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Francisco Estebán Perez, made a request on Wednesday 28 October for more staff for the 11 CSDP missions currently deployed by the EU.
Addressing the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), Mr Perez called on MEPs to put pressure on their own states to support civilian missions by seconding national experts.
The missions currently involve 2,000 members: 1,300 international experts and 700 local staff. “There are almost 700 people involved in the largest mission and 40 in the smallest”, he explained, adding that at the headquarters, at CPCC, there were 107 people.
Mr Perez felt that there was a “hiatus” between levels of ambition, between what is done and the means that are made available. “Five Member States provide 50% of the postings for missions”, he explained, as he also called upon more women to be involved, who would make up a third of the staff. Only one of the civilian missions is actually headed up by a woman: EUPOL COPPS, with Nataliya Apostolova.
The personnel issue will be discussed on the occasion of the review of the CSDP, the Civilian Compact, on 25 November (see EUROPE 12141/17).
In addition, Mr Perez spoke to members of Parliament regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are living through this pandemic, but there is a high level of resilience required to reduce its impact”, he explained (see EUROPE 12552/20). “We have set up a working group in Brussels that will work with each mission to act as an interface and provide instructions and guidance to the various people on the ground. This serves as a one-stop shop for all missions affected by the crisis, in cooperation with the foreign policy instrument and a range of advice on administrative matters”, he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)