The Finnish Presidency
Helsinki 24 November 1999
 

Draft for Chapeau covering both reports
 

The Finnish Presidency Progress Report to the Helsinki European Council
Strengthening of the Common European Policy on Security and Defence: Crisis Management
 
  1. The Presidency has responded as a matter of priority to the mandate given by the Cologne European Council to strengthen the common European policy on security and defence by taking the work forward in military and non-military aspects of crisis management. The work has been based on the guiding principles agreed at Cologne, which have been reaffirmed by the Member States.
  2. Work has yielded two separate progress reports to the European Council which are intended to be complementary and taken forward in parallel. The reports propose concrete measures to be taken jointly by the Member States and the European Union and provide guidance for the further work necessary to achieve the objectives set at Cologne by the end of the year 2000. When implemented, they should allow the European Union to play its full role on the international stage, and thereby enhance European security.
  3. To assume their responsibilities across the full range of conflict prevention and crisis management tasks defined in the EU Treaty, the Petersberg tasks, the Member States will have to improve their military capabilities and establish new political and military structures for the Union. The objective is for the Union to have an autonomous capacity to decide to launch and then to conduct EU-led military operations in response to international crises, without prejudice to actions by NATO.
  4. The Member States and the Union have a considerable experience and possess significant resources in civilian crisis management. In order to enhance its contribution to crisis management and to be able to respond better to emerging crises, the Union will have to make those resources more efficient and strengthen their synergy. Their speed of deployment will have to be improved, with special attention given to a rapid reaction capability.
  5. The new measures for crisis management will be taken in support of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and they will complement the Union's comprehensive external role which covers the full scope of the Union's activities. With the enhancement and concertation of military and civilian crisis response tools, the Union will be able to resort to the whole range of instruments from diplomatic activity, humanitarian assistance and economic measures to civilian policing and the deployment of military forces.
  6. The Atlantic Alliance remains the foundation of the collective defence of its members. The development of the common European policy on security and defence will take place without prejudice to the commitments under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and Article V of the Brussels Treaty, which will be preserved for the Member States party to these Treaties, or the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States and with the maximum transparency between the EU and NATO.
  7. The Union will contribute to international peace and security in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. Following up the principles and objectives of the OSCE Charter for European Security, the Union will cooperate with the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other international organisations in a mutually reinforcing. manner in stability promotion, early warning, conflict prevention crisis management and post-conflict reconstruction.