Sintra (Portugal), 28/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Defence Ministers of the Member States of the European Union, meeting informally in Penh Long (Sintra/Portugal) on Monday, under the chairmanship of Portuguese Minister Julio Castro Caldas and with the participation of the High Representative for Cfsp Javier Solana, agreed that, from 1 March, the interim structures that are to prepare the setting up of the future European Military Committee and European Military Staff, as well as the Political and Security Committee, "have to begin work in the Council Justus Lipsius building" in Brussels. This is what is confirmed in a note from the Portuguese Presidency, which also states that ministers undertook to appoint national representatives as quickly as possible in the interim military structures, so that their work can indeed begin in March. The Presidency's note, moreover, announces that (and this is the main result of the meeting) ministers approved a programme that should lead to the convening, by the end of the year, of a "Force Generation Conference", so as to act on the undertaking made in Helsinki of "voluntarily collaborating in training a force of 50,000 to 60,000 troops" by 2003 ("headline goal" agreed at the European Council of December 1999).
At the joint press conference with Mr. Solana, Mr. Castro Caldas said that ministers had "generally accepted" the substance of two "very useful" documents that has been placed on the table concerning the "headline goal" and the permanent military bodies (see below). Being informal, the meeting in Sintra was not intended to take decisions: they will be taken in the next weeks and months by the EU Council.
For his part, Mr. Solana said that, in Sintra, a timetable had been agreed on that should lead to, precisely, the holding of the Force Generation Conference under the French Presidency, "probably in December" of this year. This timetable, he stipulated, comprises in particular: a) a joint meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers which, on 20 March, on the occasion of the next General Affairs Council, will take initial decisions "on the basis of today's debates"; b) meetings of Chiefs of Staff of the Fifteen; c) the extraordinary European Council of Lisbon on 23 and 24 March (to which the Portuguese Presidency will present an initial report on the Csdp); d) a further joint meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers on the occasion of the General Affairs Council of 22 May, which should "review material on scenarios and available resources"; - e) the European Council of Oporto in June (with a new report by the Portuguese Presidency); f) then, under the French Presidency, a further informal meeting of Defence Ministers, two further joint meetings of Defence and Foreign Ministers, and the Force Generation Conference. This programme demonstrates the will of the Fifteen to maintain the momentum that the development of the European security and defence policy acquired in Helsinki, said Mr. Solana, congratulating the Portuguese Presidency for having secured such a result only "two short months" after last December's European Council.
As for the budgetary effort that the Fifteen will have to make to set up credible military capabilities, French Minister Alain Richard proposed that each Member State devote 0.7% of its GDP to spending on military investments. Asked about this, Mr. Castro Caldas said in his final press conference that, if Europe wanted to meet the challenge that represents Helsinki's "headline goal", it was "clear the public opinion and parliaments will need convincing" of the need to increase the defence budgets. "Everyone acknowledged this need, but today we were unable to reach a consensus on the amount that will have to be found", he added. We must now work on defining convergence criteria to increase our effort "together and harmoniously". Solana (noting that, not having national responsibilities, his task was possibly more difficult) said he was certain that all Member States were ready to make "efforts corresponding to their ambitions".
Messrs. Castro Caldas and Solana also affirmed that the EU could draw extremely useful lessons from the CRISEX 2000 military exercise, the first joint WEU and NATO exercise, that has just ended (with EU observers). Military experts must now develop conclusions on the exercise, which provides us with lessons, especially regarding the coordination of the use of NATO assets and European capabilities, said Mr. Castro Caldas.
As for Portugal's contribution to the future rapid intervention force, Mr. Castro Caldas stressed that it would be conditioned by the "enormous efforts" his country is now making to contributing to stabilising the situation in East Timor.
Discussions over the working lunch were essentially dedicated to developments in Kosovo (where, from April, Eurocorps will provide Kofor's headquarters).
Solana stresses need to involve defence ministers (as well as foreign and finance ministers)
on concrete development of Csdp and identifies five stages
In his speech before ministers, Mr. Solana said in particular that work in view of setting up the "headline goal" had to be "led" by the defence Ministers with the support not only of the General Affairs Council and the European Council, but also of Finance Ministers as, without resources, there "would only be paper promises and no real improvement". Implementing the "headline goal" has to be under full EU political control, but avoiding duplications, which means that there would have to be "substantial use" of existing work and expertise, in the framework of the WEU and NATO.
As for the stages or steps to consider, Mr. Solana set out five: 1) elaborate the "headline goal" so that it is useful for defence planners, avoiding duplications by the use of existing capabilities; 2) identify what Member States can already do; 3) agree on the extra needs (beyond the defence plans that already exist in Member states); 4) amend national defence plans to satisfy these extra needs; 5) regular reviews to keep the project on track, and this minister-led.
Belgian Defence Minister André Flahaut read at the start of the work a statement expressing his "uneasiness" over the presence of Austrian Minister Herbert Scheibner, a member of the FPÖ party.
EUROPE will be back tomorrow with more on the Belgian statement and the papers that served as the basis for Ministers' work, in particular a British document describing in detail the steps needed to attain the objectives laid down in Helsinki and a paper on the EU's future permanent military bodies.