Chateau d'Ecouen, 22/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Defence Ministers of the EU's Fifteen Member States were, at their informal meeting at the Chateau d'Ecouen, near Paris, on Friday, to approve a catalogue of forces intended for their future rapid reaction force of 60,000 troops, so that they may conduct Petersberg-type missions. These capabilities include ground, naval and air forces, as well as means of command, control, communication, intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance and strategic transport. For each of these types of capabilities, experts have identified "pools" for forces necessary to carry out the missions.
Before their working lunch, French Defence Minister Alain Richard said that the catalogue of forces was 93-95% complete and that a detailed catalogue would be presented to the General Affairs Council. Between now and 2003, Member States will not only have to deliver on the forces the intend providing, but also identify shortcomings and meet them. You may recall that the fifteen defence ministers will be taking part in a force generation conference in Brussels on 20 November, and that the following day, they will meet their counterparts of fifteen non-EU member countries (six European NATO members and nine countries candidates for EU membership), who may also contribute to the future force.
As for German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping, he said on Friday that his country would contribute to the "Headline Goal" 18,000 troops, 12,000 of whom from the ground army and the remainder from the navy and air force: rotation and training requirements will in fact demand a total of 54,000 troops, he said, citing as example the German contingents in Sfor and Kfor (which comprise 8,000 troops, but in fact require 40,000). Last week already, Belgian Defence Minister André Flahaut had proposed providing a mechanised brigade of 3,000 troops, an aircraft squadron of F-16 fighter planes, and a flotilla made up of two frigates, six mine-sweepers and a back-up plane. Spain would participate with 6,000 troops, the Netherlands with 3,000, Austria with 2,000 and Portugal with 1,000. European sources say that it should not prove to be too difficult to attain 60,000 men for the ground troops, but that the difficulty will rather be the setting up of the means of command, control, transport reconnaissance and logistics.
Mr. Scharping also said that his colleagues had shown interest in the German-Dutch project of pooling air transport capabilities, with common personnel and financing, project that he described as a unique example of "integrated multinationality". The two countries are also looking at the possibility of troop cooperation in naval support, he said.
Over the working lunch, the High Representative for Cfsp/Secretary General (of the EU and WEU) Javier Solana stressed that the interim Military Body had worked well on the catalogue for forces, and in very little time, and he praised the "energetic approach" of the French Presidency.. In addition, he placed emphasis on the need to set up adequate structures to conduct crisis management operations. We need, he said, permanent military structures, as well as civilian structures, and to agree on crisis management procedures and on a combined military-civil analysis within the situation Centre, and to agree on procedures with NATO, the European countries members of NATO and the countries candidate for EU accession. Mr. Solana said he had handed the Fifteen a note of which he had already informed the interim Political and Security Committee (COPSi) regarding the arrangements within the EU Council regarding crisis management. In the afternoon's mini-session, Solana turned to the problem of capabilities (that lie at the "heart of the Europe of Defence"). And welcomed the fact that the European Union had thus used NATO expertise to draw up the catalogue of forces. EU experts have undertaken credible work and made good use of NATO's contribution, he commented. He then called on the Fifteen to be "ambitious", avoid simple paper promises (Member States must ensure that their contributions are realistic from the point of view of their budgets) and not neglect strartegic capabilities.
Flahaut suggests that EU launch an "effective defence initiative"
On the eve of the meeting, Belgian Defence Minister André Flahaut had proposed the adoption, by the EU, of a White Paper on Defence, and launched the idea of an Effective Defence Initiative, considering that such an "intra-European programme" should aim to "eliminate whatever is superfluous", "distribute tasks" among the member countries, "stimulate multinational cooperation" and "seek economies of scale". According to him, this should enable members to make savings that should foremost be earmarked for the procurement of the strategic capabilities that Europe lacks today, and help the European armed forces to proceed with the adaptations NATO's Defence Capabilities Initiative provides for.