Brdo pri Kranju, 22/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - Military capacity was main theme of the second day of the informal meeting of the European defence ministers, which was held on Friday 22 February in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia. The high representative of the EU, Javier Solana, and the president of the military committee of the European Union, the French General Henri Bentégeat, presented the ministers with areas for reflection on ways of improving the availability of the military capacity of the EU. Although a number of capacities - strategic air transport in particular - are in seriously short supply in Europe, others- such as helicopters - exist in sufficient quantities, but are not adapted for long-range deployment or use in a difficult theatre. In order to remedy this situation, various solutions are currently being looked into, in the national general staffs, the military committee and the European Defence Agency.
The Brdo meeting also provided the ministers with the opportunity to discuss issues relating to the possibility of employing battle groups, solidarity in the funding of military operations of the EU and the capacity which is lacking. In this context, the Executive Director of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Alexander Weis, presented the ministers with the latest projects of the EDA, particularly regarding sharing information between the member states on the availability of helicopters for ESDP operations. (A.By)