Brussels, 15/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The informal meeting of European Union Defence Ministers that will take place on Friday 22 September in Chateau Ecouen (Val D'Oise) under the Presidency of Alain Richard and in the presence of the High representative for CFSP Javier Solana, will form the new stage in the EU initiatives aiming to achieve, by 2003, the Headline Goal set at the Helsinki summit for a rapid reaction force of up to 60,000 men. In fact, the Ministers should accept the catalogue of forces needed to achieve this global objective finalised over the last few months by the EU Headline Goal Task Force, which, by taking on this very detailed exercise, worked in cooperation with NATO (see below). Next Friday's meeting will be to prepare the meeting on the projection of forces to which the EU Defence Minister will take part on 20 November in Brussels, and during which the Member States will indicate what contribution they intend to make to reach the objective set in Helsinki. The November conference will enable, in particular, to assess the failings and the means of over coming them. A certain number of national contributions have already been presented or will be presented soon, and they confirm that, while the Member States should not have difficulties making available sufficient personnel to the future European force, failing exist in particular with regard to the equipment and notably the strategic means. The Member States should thus be invited to make up these shortfalls.
Next Friday, the EU Defence Ministers will no doubt emphasis the points on which progress has been achieved with regard to:
- the development of EU/NATO relation in terms of defence. As we have previously indicated (see EUROPE of 14 September, p.6), the COPSI, chaired by the French Ambassador to the WEU Michel Duclos, will in the afternoon of 19 September, at the seat of the EU Council, have a joint meeting with the North Atlantic Council. This first EU/NATO meeting at ambassador level, can be considered as a turning point (over the last months, EU/NATO contacts have in fact been limited to informal lunches between Secretary Generals Solana and Robertson). Let us recall that three of the four EU/NATO working groups established this summer met in July (those on security issues, on the EU's military capability and the EU's recourse to NATO means), while the working group on permanent arrangements for EU/NATO relations gathered this Friday morning. As we indicated, the Headline Goal Task Force also worked with NATO soldiers during the drawing up of its catalogue on the Headline Goal: as opposed to what had been indicated by an Atlantic alliance source, who asserted that the figures presented by the EU were "reasonable", but that the scenarios on which the EU was basing itself were not (see our Atlantic News Bulletin of 16 September), European sources underline that the expertise provided by NATO, during the meetings, had not changed the direction of the works by the Task Force. At the same time, these sources underline that this expertise was useful and even necessary.
- relations between the EU and other European countries, and in particular the six NATO members that are not EU members (Turkey, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic). An initial meeting last July enabled them to reassure these countries, and in particular Turkey, of the EU's intentions (see EUROPE of 2 August, pages 2 and 3), and the meetings of EU Defence Ministers on 20 November will be followed by meetings at Ministerial level with these countries.