28 February: Defence ministers informal

Date: 02/03/2000

EU DEFENCE ministers agreed to make a firm pledge on supplying troops and equipment for the Union's planned rapid reaction force by the end of 2000. At the informal meeting in Portgal, they provisionally endorsed plans to hold a “force generation” conference by December 2000 at which governments would spell out their individual contributions to the EU's crisis management force. In Helsinki last December, Union leaders agreed on “headline goals” for a military squad made up of 60,000 troops which should be ready for operations in 2003 and could stay in the field for at least one year. This will mean providing up to 200,000 military personnel because of the need to rotate soldiers on active service.

FOREIGN policy chief Javier Solana said it was essential for defence ministers to receive the full backing of their governments and finance ministries for the necessary commitments, which will require some countries to increase their defence budgets. “Without full support we will end up with paper promises and not real improvements,” he warned.

Solana outlined five steps which would transform the political commitment made in Helsinki into practical action. He said that first, the EU would need to identify possible scenarios in which the Union's crisis management squad might be deployed. This would draw on work already carried out by the Western European Union, the existing military organisation of which ten EU countries are full members.

THE Union would then establish how many troops and what type of military equipment was needed to carry out such operations. This would be followed by an exercise to identify whether member states had the capacity to meet those needs. Each government would then work out what sections of the logistical requirements it could supply and, following an agreement at December's 'force generation' conference, the overall commitment would be divided up into national contributions, which governments would have two years to make.

The commitments will be formally endorsed by EU foreign ministers at their next joint meeting with the defence counterparts on 24 March.