Brussels, 21/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 June, the Council of Ministers endorsed the six-monthly report on the ESDP prepared by the German presidency. This document, sent to the European Council every six months, takes stock of what the EU has accomplished in terms of security and defence and sets out a mandate for the next six months.
The report opens with a list of the operational activities, beginning with EUFOR in Bosnia Herzegovina, the reconfiguration of which started on 28 February and was completed on 28 April, ahead of schedule. The Council restated its commitment to providing a sufficiently strong military presence to prevent any security lapses. The report then goes on to speak about: the police mission in Bosnia, the mandate of which expires on 31 December 2007; preparation for the future police mission in Kosovo; the border support mission in Georgia, the EUBAM mission in Moldova and Ukraine, which is expected to be extended for another 24-month period; the EUJUST Lex mission which trained 1,044 Iraqis from the justice, police and prison administration sectors; the EUBAM Rafah mission, extended for a year on 23 May; the EUPOL COPPS mission in Palestine; the hand-over between the EUPOL-Kinshasa and EUPOL-DRC missions; support for AMIS in Darfur and AMISOM in Somalia; the launch of the EUPOL mission in Afghanistan. The report then turns to the latest progress in civilian capabilities, with, for example, the approval on Monday 18 June of guidelines for the new command and control structure for civilian crisis management operations, and in military capabilities, with the ongoing work on the joint forces rapid response and improvement of the first phase of planning.
In its mandate, the Portuguese presidency is invited to: - continue operational activities; - continue developing civilian capabilities aiming to conclude the Civilian Headline Goal 2008; - put in place the new civilian chain of command; - continue work on the development of military capabilities (Headline Goal 2010); - take forward work on the revision of the Military Rapid Response Concept; - support work on improving strategic planning; - continue the work on establishing Information Exchange requirements, which will provide a key reference point upon which EU Network Enabled Capability activities can be built; - support the European Defence Agency in its major approaches and activities and, in particular, the development of the Capability Development Plan; - continue preparations for forthcoming military exercises MILEX 08 and CME 08; - strengthen training relevant to the ESDP; - take forward the work on the ESDP contribution to the reform of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration sector; - enhance the EU-NATO strategic partnership; - further enhance cooperation with the United Nations; - foster dialogue with the African Union and enhance African conflict management capabilities. (oj)