Brussels, 08/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's mission to take over from NATO's SFOR mission in Bosnia Herzegovina by the end of this year will be led by British General A. D. Leakey. Originally known as EUFOR, it has been given a new name, ALTHEA. The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU (COREPER) will meet on Monday morning, ahead of the External Relations and General Affairs Council, to finalise the common action defining how the mission will operate. The decision will then be adopted by the Council.
As for its military mission to Macedonia, Concordia, the European Union may use NATO resources to carry out its mission in Bosnia, in line with the 'permanent Berlin + arrangements'. NATO's D-SACEUR, Admiral Rainer Feist, will be the mission's Commander-in-Chief and will be responsible for preparing the mission's plan of operations (OPLAN). Operational commander on the ground will be General Leakey, currently Director General of the UK Ministry of Defence's training and recruitment agency. The EU's Political and Security Committee (COPS) will be responsible for strategic control of the mission. Its headquarters will be located in the SHAPE headquarters (of allied forces in Europe) in Mons, Belgium.
ALTHEA will be staffed by the same personnel as the NATO mission at the time it takes over, in other words around 7000 soldiers (see EUROPE of 7 April, p.4). It will have a provisional budget of around EUR 72 million to cover common operating costs and will be run through the ATHENA mechanism established in February 2004 for managing the common costs of the European Union's military operations. In addition to this budget, there will be contributions from Member States involved in the mission to cover costs not met in common, like soldiers' pay. ALTHEA will be open to the participation of third countries, including accession countries (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey), NATO members which are not members of the EU (Norway and Iceland) and Canada.
On Monday morning COREPER will finalise the common action defining details of the mission, including the NATO letter authorising the EU to use NATO resources to carry out its mission. If there are no countervailing administrative orders, it will be endorsed the same day by the General Affairs and External Relations Council. The common action does not specify the exact date of deployment, which will only be revealed when the Council adopts the decision deciding on the actual launch of operations. The document does stipulate, however, that the Council will make an assessment six months after ALTHEA's deployment and decide by 31 December 2005 whether or not it should be extended.