By Nicola Smith & Hughes Beaudouin - 12th December 2003
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The deal, forged on the eve of talks to finalise the EU constitution, sets out details of an EU military planning cell, which would be used for autonomous European operations.
The decision would “make sure that in circumstances where
"[The cell] gives us a military instrument without which there is no possibility of having a true and authoritative foreign policy and diplomacy," said Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
"I think that experience shows that your foreign policy is only convincing if you have military authority to back it up," he continued.
"After 50 years of history Europe now has the possibility of running its own autonomous defence and can as such become an authoritative player on the world stage."
In an effort to meet
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According to the document due to be formally adopted by EU leaders today, “a small cell should be established at SHAPE” and NATO will be invited to establish liaison arrangements at the EUMS – the EU’s military headquarters in Brussels.l
The document makes clear that the EU in the first instance should use NATO facilities when carrying out its military operations.
This would be possible under the Berlin Plus arrangements which allow the EU to make use of NATO assets.
A second option would be to use national planning facilities, a method used in the recent French-led peace-keeping operation to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The proposed separate planning facilities, would only be used when all other options are unavailable.
Where no national HQ is identified, the Council will decide, upon advice from its military committee, to draw on EUMS resources.
Following such a decision, the civilian/military cell in the EUMS would have responsibility for planning and running the operation.
“This would not be a standing HQ,” the document states, adding, however, that a core “double-hatted” staff would be required in order to act at short notice.
The EUMS is also to be given more scope to conduct early warnings and situation assessment.
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