Brussels, 19/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the capability improvement conference, which unfolded on Monday in Brussels, the European Union Defence Ministers reaffirmed their undertakings with regards to the Headline Goal of a force of 60,000 deployable within a time frame below 60 days and for a mission duration of at least one year, for missions lead by the EU. The meeting of the General Affairs Council with the participation of the Defence Ministers ended with the adoption of a statement, which notes that missions will be possible by 2003, but that they will not be without risks, since a certain number of failings remain to be overcome. Efforts will have to be made to enable the Union to be capable of leading, in an optimal manner, the more complex operations and to reduce the possible future limitations and restrictions in terms of the scope of the operations and the time for deployment, as well as the level of risk, indicates the statement. The Member States agreed on the European action plan concerning capabilities, which includes all the efforts, investments, developments and co-ordination measures, both national and multinational, undertaken or envisaged in view of improving the existing means and to progressively develop the capabilities necessary for Union actions.
The Declaration notes that the voluntary contributions by the Member States confirm the existence of a group of means formed of a reservoir of more than 100,000 men, of around 400 fighter aircraft and 100 buildings, which enable the EU to fully meet the qualitative needs defined by the Headline Goal, to undertake various crisis management operations. The Member States have brought additional contributions, which allow to entirely or partially bring remedy to several failings and deficiencies. In the terrestrial domain, this notably concerns the multiple rocket launcher, broadcasting, electronic warfare, armoured infantry and crossing engineer units. For the maritime means, progress has been achieved in the field of naval aviation. In the aircraft sector, additional contributions, but still insufficient, concern research and fighter rescue as well as precision armaments. Additional efforts must be undertaken in the field of the protection of deployed forces, the engagement capability and logistics.
The availability of terrestrial forces, the operational mobility and the flexibility of the deployed forces also needs improvement, as does naval air equipment and emergency evacuation procedures. In terms of strategic capacity, there appear to be a relatively sufficient number of means of command, while information and communication have been stepped up with additional forces, although there are still some gaps. This is also the case for the projection and strategic mobility of forces, with the declaration noting that the options for surveillance, information, the acquisition of objectives and reconnaissance remain limited. In terms of strategic mobility, the most important shortfalls are in large-scale troop carriers and ro-ro ships.
To overcome these shortfalls, the action plan includes three types of solution: providing extra national forces and capabilities; improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the capabilities that have already been provided; and multinational solutions that might involve coproduction, funding and acquisition of capabilities and possibly the common management and use of equipment jointly acquired. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of all these shortfalls will be continued under the leadership of the Military Committee. In order to ensure the effectiveness, flexibility and responsibility of the Member States, the plan also incorporates meetings of experts for each type of capacity to look at the remaining gaps and brainstorm all possible national or multinational options. A single Member State or a pilot group of states will run these expert groups and on the basis of opinions issued by the Military Committee, the Political and Security Committee will regularly report back to the Council.
A brief outline of the contributions from the different Member States as at 19 November 2001: Austria can provide no more than 2000 soldiers for simultaneous operations (involving more than one of the EU, NATO, UN, etc) with 1 mechanised infantry battalion, 1 light infantry battalion, one NBC unit, a transport helicopter squadron and a transport company; Belgium can provide 1 mechanised brigade for one six month mission, a squadron of twelve F16s (24 for short-term operations), 8 C130s and 2 Airbuses, 2 frigates, six mine-sweepers and a command vessel (for 4 month missions); Finland can provide 1500 soldiers including 1 mechanised infantry battalion and 1 transport company along with command, support and logistics support; France 12,000 men (from a reserve of 20,000) including 1 divisional PC, 1 light brigade, 1 armoured division, 1 airborne division and 1 amphibian division, along with 1 air-naval group (22 combat plane and 2 detector planes), 1 nuclear attack submarine, 2 big amphibious vessels, 4 frigates, 3 support vessels and 75 combat planes, 8 supply planes, 3 long-distance transport planes and 24 medium-term transport planes, 2 AWACS; on 19 November, France included support for 4 battalions in its basket (multiple rocket launchers, helicopters, electronic warfare, nuclear, bacteriological and chemical defence) and new reconnaissance drones to double its NBC protection contribution, strengthen its shipborne medical support, and provide the first APACHE missiles, night attack capabilities by shipborne combat planes, and special forces; Germany - 18,000 men with 14 air squads and 13 ships, sanitary and support capacity and a satellite surveillance system (SAR LUPE), drones and other reconnaissance/surveillance systems (LUNA, KZO and COBRA), the A400M transporter plane and the ETRUS amphibious transport vessel; Greece - 6500 men with 1 infantry brigade, 1 company of combat helicopters and 1 transport helicopter company, 8 ships and 42 planes; Ireland - 850 men, including 1 light infantry battalion (750); Italy - 12500 men (which could rise to 14,500 for no more than 4 months) with 19 ships and 26 combat planes and support command elements; Luxembourg - 1 reconnaissance company on light armoured vehicles; the Netherlands - 1 mechanised brigade, 1 air brigade, 1 amphibious battalion and frigates and F16 planes; Portugal - around 4000 men from the army, navy and air force with 1 frigate, 1 submarine, 12 F16s, 4 Hercules C130s and 4 PUMA helicopters; Spain - 1 mechanised division, mountain units, special operations and light infantry (battalion level) with an air-navy unit, two squadrons of F1 and F18 fighter planes (24 in total) and a transport squadron; Sweden - 1 mechanised infantry battalion of 900 men, 1 engineering company of 175 men and 1 military police company of 160 men, 1 marine unit of 206 men and two corvettes, 1 air reconnaissance squadron and 4 C130s - the Swedish contribution will be decided on a case-by-case basis; the United Kingdom - around 12 500 men with 18 ships and 72 combat planes and command, support and information capabilities.
Over dinner, the Foreign Ministers discussed the option of organised formal Defence Councils on top of the informal meetings and invitations to the General Affairs Councils. The Ministers could not reach agreement on this (some think there are already too many Councils).