Developing EU’s Usefulness, Capability Development and Operations

(Version anglaise seulement)

Sweden assumes the presidency of the EU and will head the Union for the next six months *. With the presidency, Sweden is responsible for moving forward important EU issues and has already emphasised that defence policy issues will have a high priority. In view of the upcoming, challenging tasks, the Swedish government recently issued a factsheet describing the defence policy issues that are to be dealt with during its presidency.

Within this factsheet, which was provided to defpro.com this month, Sweden intends to improve the EU’s usefulness and capability in further supporting international peace and security efforts. EU members are cooperating in various ways in this field, including implementing joint military operations. However, these are not fully effective and have to continue to further develop its crisis management capability.

EU Battlegroups reform

Though a unique instrument for rapid reaction operations, the Union has not yet made use of the EU Battlegroups. Given this, the Swedish presidency is now opening a political discussion on a more flexible view on this issue.

Member States are responsible for organising Battlegroups and make them available to the EU in rotating six-month periods. There are, at all times, two Battlegroups on simultaneous standby, providing the EU with a tool for rapid crisis management. Quickly suppressing an emerging crisis or conflict, to prevent further escalation, is a key task and projected capability of the EU Battlegroups. When a Battlegroup has fulfilled such an initial mission, more long-term stabilising measures can be carried out by allied or national forces.

To increase the efficiency of EU Battlegroups, Sweden proposed that one of the Battlegroups could be made available for other than rapid reaction operations. In order to increase usability, the cooperation between Battlegroups on standby should be improved.

Enabling EU to contribute to peace and security

The primary objective of the EU capability development is to identify capabilities required to enable the EU to contribute to peace and security as, for instance, strategic transport or medical evacuation helicopters. The EU member states individually decided to extend their contribution to multinational capability development, which Sweden would like to boost.

Coordination of civilian and military capabilities

According to the Swedish factsheet, when planning military and civil operations a long-term strategy for rebuilding the respective country or area must be developed in parallel. Sustainable peace requires functioning institutions under democratic control, such as police and judicial systems. When military and civil operations are carried out simultaneously in a conflict area, their combined effect can only be increased by a healthy interaction.

As one major aim during its EU presidency, Sweden will initiate a discussion on how coordination of the EU civil and military capabilities can be further developed. Basically, this involves avoiding unnecessary duplication of activities and capabilities as well as finding common civil-military solutions. Key examples are transport and logistics, protection and co-locating civilian and military headquarters. The Swedish presidency is expected to arrange a seminar on the subject during the autumn of this year.

Extension of Operation ATALANTA

One of the purposes of the European Security and Defence Policy is to enable member states to jointly contribute to operations aimed at promoting peace and security. The need for a common EU response to conflicts or crises became obvious during the long-lasting Balkan conflict, when the EU was unable to take military action because it lacked the proper tools and structures. But much has happened since and several military operations have been carried out under the EU flag, mainly in Africa.

One of these operations is the ongoing maritime operation ATALANTA off the coast of Somalia, of which the essential objective is to protect UN food shipments from local piracy.

Sweden is planning to extend the ATALANTA mission, as the need for a military presence in the region is expected to continue to be great through 2010. The long-standing operation ALTHEA, along with the EU’s continued military presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will also be discussed in the course of late 2009.

Civil peace-support and security-building missions

The EU also conducts civilian peace-support and security-building missions. In these particular cases, its goal is promoting the development of constitutional states and police activities, providing support to the administration and civil protection, or monitoring borders and peace agreements. Sweden, for instance, participates in the EU operations in Georgia, Afghanistan, Gaza and Kosovo.

The largest civil EU mission is EULEX in Kosovo, where it has deployed experts to help Kosovo establish a functioning judicial and customs systems. Several agencies from Sweden are contributing with staff and resources to this mission. The Swedish government attaches great importance to the EU’s ability to contribute to crisis management operations.

Cooperation between civil and military maritime surveillance
Few of the current security and safety threats respect political borders. Organised crime, industrial or environmental accidents, terrorism, piracy, illegal immigration, illegal fishing, pollution and the consequences of long-term climate change affect us all and often have their origin and effects in more than one state. The common requirements of civil and military actors do not allow a strict division between civil and military related aspects of security. Instead, it requires a well-coordinated approach involving all involved EU institutions in order to successfully protect the interests of member states and of the European Union.

As the factsheet outlines, the Swedish government supports a close and transparent cooperation between civil and military maritime surveillance assets and will support a further improvement of this cooperation. The objective is to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and to improve overall efficiency.

To achieve this, member states, the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Commission will need to closely work together in order to find innovative solutions within the given legal framework. Furthermore, in order to secure efficient development of maritime situational awareness capabilities, the EU must use all the instruments at its disposal.

At the EU level, work has been in progress for several years to satisfy the maritime surveillance and maritime information requirements of the various member states. The EU maritime policy addresses the requirement for a more integrated cooperation in this field.

In this context, Sweden emphasises the importance of building, as far as possible, on existing systems and initiatives which are linked, in order to achieve better situational awareness. Continued close cooperation between member states and relevant EU institutions, consequently, is of great value.

Closer cooperation between the EU and NATO

Since both are often operating in the same areas, there is a need for closer cooperation between the EU and NATO, according to Sweden.

This need exists at all levels and stages as, for instance, from planning to implementation of operations and missions. Information exchange and cooperation on capability development and armaments can also be expanded to avoid unnecessary duplication.

This issue has been pursued by previous presidencies, however, Sweden is stimulating a dialogue that may promote increased cooperation.

To sum up, Sweden has recognised the importance of increasing usefulness, capability development and operations of the EU. The required will is there and first moves have already shown that this presidency will place important defence and security issues on the agenda. However, it has to be seen if other member states are also willing to push the Unions defence potential.

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* The EU presidency of the Council rotates between member states. The presidency rotates on a half-yearly basis. The country presiding over the Council acts as the driving force in the EU's legislative and political decision-making process

Source : defpro.com

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