Warning over quality of Union’s military force

Date: 16/11/00

By Simon Taylor

THE EU's plans to create a military force to tackle future humanitarian crises could be undermined unless governments are prepared to commit better quality troops to the initiative, warn diplomats.

Officials say member states are very close to pledging enough manpower for the Union to meet its goal of setting up a crisis management force of 60,000 personnel which could respond to future crises like Kosovo when the US is not prepared to get involved.

But concern is growing that governments may not agree to assign their best-equipped soldiers to the planned rapid reaction unit, hampering its effectiveness. "We should be on track to meet most of our needs by 2003 in terms of numbers but there is a question of quality," said one diplomat.

When EU defence ministers meet in Paris next week at a 'pledging conference', they will declare how many troops and what equipment they are prepared to assign to the new military unit. But officials stress that they will have to provide troops which can be deployed at very short notice to allow the Union's new force to respond swiftly to fast-developing crises. "You need to ensure that you have troops at the highest state of readiness," said one.

Military experts add that it is relatively easy for EU governments to offer the required number of personnel because they have large standing armies to draw on. But many are reluctant to commit their best-equipped troops to the force because they want to keep them in reserve for emergencies.

Next week's conference in Paris is also expected to highlight the areas where the Union is short of military equipment essential for a quick response unit such as transport planes and ships, intelligence-gathering technology and logistical support.

Diplomats say ministers will set out the steps which governments must take to ensure that the gaps can be filled by the time the force becomes operational in 2003. This will include suggesting to some countries which have particular strengths in certain fields, such as transport, that they might make a bigger contribution in that area in return for a lesser burden in others.

Fears that the new force might not be able to carry out the tasks which the Union envisages come amid increasing concerns among non-EU countries.

US Ambassador to NATO Alexander Vershbow warned recently that the new force could undermine the transatlantic military alliance if the Union decided to create a rival planning unit and Turkey is continuing to block the release of key NATO documents to the EU because it feels it is being unfairly excluded from the Union's new defence structures.

The EU's plans to create a military force to tackle future humanitarian crises could be undermined unless governments are prepared to commit better quality troops to the initiative, warn diplomats.