The European External Action Service takes the view, in the High Representative’s report on the review of the Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), that the MPCC has fallen behind in its deployment.
“The MPCC is not yet ready to reach Full Operational Capability under Phase 1”, the Diplomatic Service says in this document obtained by EUROPE and transmitted to the Political and Security Committee on 1 March.
According to the EEAS, the MPCC “needs more time to be ready to assume the executive task of the EUMS OPSCEN and to take the responsibility for the operational planning and conduct of any non-executive military CSDP missions and one executive military CSDP operation limited to EU Battle Group size, by the end of 2020, which was the original objective”.
The diplomatic service believes that the MPCC should continue to build on the progress made so far and further develop the EU’s command and control capacity at Brussels level. “The aim is to achieve a capability to plan and conduct operations that is homogeneous, coherent, uniform and effective within the framework of the EU’s integrated approach”, it explains, adding that this would increase the ability to plan and deploy CSDP military operations under its mandate.
For the coming months, the EEAS is encouraging Member States to provide the necessary staff for the permanent core of the MPPC, as it believes that this lack of staff, in particular, has hampered its growth. “These staff will be needed to cope with the increased workload deriving from the planning, deployment and redeployment of a new operation or mission”, the service explains.
“Another major deficiency” to be remedied is communications. The EEAS advocates the development of a “secure, robust and resilient” Communication and Information System (CIS), including the elements necessary to provide connectivity with a deployed FHQ and compatibility to other EEAS secure CIS systems. Currently, the MPCC has only limited EU-level connectivity for its training missions. Future requirements for an executive operation are connectivity up to EU secret level with a deployed FHQ, warns the EEAS, adding that the limitations of classified systems and the obsolescence of the current system hamper the capabilities of the MPCC. A system of this kind could be in place by mid-2021.
Finally, the diplomatic service proposes to move forward with the future reassignment of some of the functions currently supported by the EU Military Staff to the MPCC. “This requires the revision of the mandates of the staff and the MPCC”, it said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)