Brussels, 29/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union is also organising an informal meeting of EU defence ministers, as several previous presidencies have done for two years now. The Union's defence ministers will meet in Brussels on 6 April, under the chairmanship of their Swedish counterpart, Mr. von Sydow, to discuss developments in the European Security and Defence Policy (Esdp), the setting up of Politico-Military bodies in the Council and a rapid reaction force, etc..
You may recall that the Austrian Presidency was the first to organise an informal meeting of defence ministers, in Vienna in November 1998, followed in 1999 by the German Presidency, in Bonn (whereas, under the Finnish Presidency, defence ministers had, for the first time, had a joint meeting with their colleagues for foreign affairs, and that the European Council of Helsinki in December 1999 had taken fundamental decisions for the development of the Esdp), and in 2000 by the Portuguese Presidency in Sintra and by the French Presidency at the Chateau d'Ecouen, near Paris (see EUROPE of 23 September 2000, p.3, and 25/26 September, p.6). The future Belgian Presidency is planning an informal meeting of defence ministers for 11 October.
Regarding the setting up of the rapid reaction force, General Jean-Pierre Kelche, Chief-of-Staff of the French army, denied news published in the Daily Telegraph by which he said that this force would have to be independent of NATO. General Kelch stipulated that he had raised the possibility of "not using the Alliance" only in certain precise cases, "that of civilian crisis management and that of a very limited military operation".