AFP, BRUSSELS: EU defence ministers vowed Monday to press ahead with plans for rapid-reaction “battle groups” to be deployed to international hotspots, as part of a tightening up of Europe's defence capacities.
The European Union aims to have such combat forces, which would go into danger zones to “open them up” for follow-on missions, ready to deploy in 2007, they said.
“The European Union has to be ready to act quickly. Rapid response has … become central to our efforts,” said Irish Defence Minister Michael Smith after the first session of two-day talks in Brussels.
The battle group plans were unveiled late last year by France and Britain, and subsequently backed by Germany, after the first-ever EU military mission outside Europe, a French-led force that helped quell fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last summer.
Under the proposals, 1,500-strong contingents would be deployable within 15 days and able to stay on the ground for a month. Other EU states are expected to be invited to join in the initiative, due to be finalized by June.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Europe wants ultimately to have the capacity, if necessary, to deploy several such forces at the same time — and stressed that they were part of a wider shake-up of Europe's defences.
“If you want to deploy rapidly you need rapid decisions and rapid planning,” he told reporters, citing the DRC mission as a model of how such relatively small forces would be deployed to secure an area, before larger forces arrive.
The battle group plans were among the first items on the agenda at Monday's talks, the first meeting of EU defence ministers since Ireland took over the rotating EU presidency in January.
The ministers were also discussing a new arms agency and a proposed military planning cell for the expanding European Union, as well as the bloc's planned takeover of a peacekeeping force in Bosnia.
The arms agency — covering procurement, development and research, which was approved last November — notably aims to boost cooperation between EU states and strengthen Europe's defence industry.
The EU, which expands from 15 to 25 members on May 1, has long pursued ways of increasing cooperation on defence matters, while insisting that there is no question of duplicating capabilities with the US-dominated NATO alliance.
The ministers were due to review progress on a military planning cell to boost EU cooperation. The idea initially sparked protests notably in NATO and Washington, but a watered-down version of it was agreed in December.
The cell will consist of a few dozen military officers and civilian personnel based with the EU's existing military staff in Brussels and focus on planning out operations which NATO doesn't want.
Diplomatic sources said the EU “still has to agree on a level of ambition” for the cell, which is being overseen by Solana's office.
The ministers will also want to cover defence issues related to terrorism, the war in Iraq, and recent ethnic violence in Kosovo, where NATO heads peacekeeping forces, sources said.
