Solid progress on security and defence policies

Irish Times
Jul 13, 2004

Paul Gillespie in Brussels

Effective multilateralism has provided an active and topical agenda
for Ireland’s EU presidency during the last six months, which is amply
reflected in the conclusions of yesterday’s European Council.

The phrase comes from the European Security Strategy adopted at last
December’s summit, which stipulated that the United Nations should be
at its core.

This gave an opportunity to combine Irish political priorities with EU
ones when the UN was more and more anxious to benefit from EU
initiatives on peacekeeping, peacemaking and crisis management issues.

The fruits of this activity are endorsed in the conclusions. They
include detailed policy papers for the UN Secretary General’s high
level panel on threats, challenges and change in support of a
strengthened UN; work undertaken to implement the EU-UN joint
declaration on co-operation on crisis management of September last;
and joint commitments made to effective multilateralism with the EU’s
regional partners such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, where the
EU is to send its first rule of law mission under the European
Security and Defence Policy. It anticipates future proposals on steps
to promote a more rules-based international order. Other initiatives
involved include work to develop EU policy towards conflict prevention
and human rights and to develop basic principles on how sanctions can
be used to implement such multilateral approaches.

The EU is shortly to take over the NATO mission in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In practice, the military and police resources being made
available through new structures will be deployed within its immediate
neighbourhood there and in Macedonia rather than much further
afield. But policy is increasingly geared to UN peacekeeping
work. These priorities are spelled out in a section devoted to how
such capabilities are to be enhanced.

The EU has a “headline goal” of deploying 60,000 troops in military
rapid response for crisis management tasks by 2010. The latest plan is
to use multinational 1,500-strong “battle groups” for this task to be
ready by 2007 and to maintain close contacts with the UN on this
issue, which the summit endorsed.

The summit launched the EU’s first military planning cell to
co-ordinate such work. It will be based in Brussels and begin work by
the end of the year. It will complement existing cells in NATO and
co-ordinate with other operations centres.

The summit endorsed progress made during the Irish presidency on
combating terrorism, both by taking steps on such issues as asylum,
border protection and drug trafficking and by implementing the
declaration on the subject adopted after the train bombs in Madrid on
March 3rd last. These include work on the Schengen system of border
controls, sharing intelligence between law enforcement agencies and
protecting civilians and critical infrastructures.

Solidarity and international co-operation are integral to combating
terrorism and addressing its root causes, the conclusions state. The
subject will be to the foreground in relations with the US and in
political dialogue with other third countries.

The summit pledged itself to continue the fight against weapons of
mass destruction and their means of delivery. It endorsed a report on
the implementation of an EU policy on proliferation and adopted a
declaration on criminal sanctions in related materials.