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Document submitted to the LISBON EUROPEAN COUNCIL:

STRENGTHENING THE COMMON EUROPEAN
SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY

Press Release: Lisbon (24-03-2000) - Nr: 6933/00

 
 
 

DRAFT PRESIDENCY REPORT 
TO THE LISBON EUROPEAN COUNCIL
"STRENGTHENING THE COMMON EUROPEAN SECURITY 
AND DEFENCE POLICY"

 

  1. The Helsinki European Council invited the Portuguese Presidency, together with the Secretary General/High Representative, to carry forward work within the General Affairs Council on strengthening the common European policy on security and defence, and to submit a first progress report to the Lisbon European Council. 

  2.  
  3. The Presidency, together with the Secretary General/High Representative, have taken work forward on this subject as a matter of priority. Following this first progress report, the Presidency will present an overall report to the European Council in Feira, in line with its remit from Helsinki. 

  4.  
  5. The Council has adopted the decisions establishing the three interim bodies identified in the Helsinki Report: 
  • the interim political and security committee (iPSC), 
  • the interim body of military representatives of Member States' Chiefs of Defence, 
  • the detachment of military experts from Member States to the Council Secretariat to assist in the work on CESDP and to form the nucleus of the future Military Staff. The decision on detachment of military experts is accompanied by a decision setting out the rules applicable to these experts. 
All these decisions apply as of 1 March 2000.
The iPSC, which is a formation of the Political Committee and works in close contacts with the Secretary General/High Representative, has had its first meetings on 1, 3, 10 and 14 March 2000. It has started to deal with CFSP affairs on a day to day basis and has begun preparing recommendations on the future functioning of the CESDP. 
The interim Military Body had its first meeting on 7 March. Applications for the military experts to be seconded by Member States to the Council Secretariat have been received. The head of the military experts was appointed by the Secretary General/High Representative on 8 March. The selection process of the other military experts is underway.
  1. The Council has adopted the paper "Military bodies in the European Union and the planning and conduct of EU-led operations" as a basis for future work to be conducted by the interim military bodies and other competent bodies. 

  2.  
  3. With a view to the overall Presidency progress report to Feira, work is progressing in Council, POCO and the interim PSC on the basis of a Presidency paper, to define the appropriate arrangements that, while respecting the Union's decision-making autonomy, will allow non-EU European NATO members and the other countries who are candidates for accession to the EU to contribute to EU military crisis management. 

  4.  
  5. Consistent with their commitment to transparency, the Political Directors of the EU Member States have met with representatives from the candidate states for accession to the EU in the framework of the political dialogue. Further meetings are envisaged with non-EU European NATO members and the candidate states for accession to the EU.  

  6.  
  7. Also with a view to the overall Presidency progress report to Feira, the Council, the POCO and the interim PSC have held discussions on the basis of a Presidency paper on "EU-NATO relations". The Secretary General/High Representative has intensified his informal contacts with the Secretary-General of NATO in the framework set out by Cologne and Helsinki. The Presidency looks forward to a further deepening of these contacts before the Feira European Council, in order to facilitate for Feira the preparation of proposals on principles for consultation with NATO on military issues and recommendations on development of modalities for EU/NATO relations. 

  8.  
  9. EU Member States Defence Ministers met informally in Sintra on 28 February to consider how to progress towards the Headline Goal set at Helsinki. Ministers also welcomed the French-Netherlands proposal for the development of a maritime headline goal. The Sintra meeting contributed to the preparation of the deliberations of the General Affairs Council of 20 March in which Defence Ministers participated. At the 20 March session, the Council identified the process for further elaborating the Headline and capability Goals, with the aim of setting a more detailed collective requirement against which indications of national contributions reflecting the commitment of Member States could be considered, and the need for a review mechanism. In addition, Member States would use existing defence planning procedures, including, as appropriate, those available in NATO and the Planning and Review Process (PARP) of the PfP. The Council concluded that the "food for thought" paper on the "Elaboration of the headline goal", including the timetable set out therein leading to a Capabilities Pledging Conference to be convened by the end of 2000, constitutes a basis for future work to be conducted by the competent bodies.  

  10.  
  11. Work has been carried out in parallel on the civilian track of crisis management. The Council has decided to consider the establishment of a committee for civilian crisis management and to continue to define its role and competencies along the lines described in the paper "Establishment of a EU committee for civilian crisis management", taking into account the comments of Member States, the Commission and the Legal Services, as well as the first experiences of the co-ordinating mechanism, with a view to reaching a decision on the establishment of such a committee by or at Feira. A seminar on civilian crisis management will be held in Lisbon on 3-4 April. The results of the seminar will also be fed into the study on concrete targets for EU Member States collective non-military response to international crises.  

  12.  
  13. The Council welcomed the steps taken by the Secretary General/High Representative to set up a co-ordinating mechanism for civilian crisis management at the Council Secretariat, which is closely interacting with the Commission, as provided for in the Helsinki conclusions. As a first priority, a preliminary database on Member State civil police capabilities has been established. The Presidency recalls in this context its intention to hold a seminar in May concerning the training of civilian police to support international peace keeping operations. The Council welcomed the setting up by the Secretary General/High Representative of an interim Situation Centre/Crisis Cell at the Council Secretariat, which will provide support for EU crisis management. The Council noted that the Commission is preparing a proposal for the setting up of a Rapid Reaction Fund.