Civilian-military cooperation and the development of civilian-military capabilities

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on civilian-military cooperation and the development of civilian-military capabilities.

General considerations: Parliament recalls that the EU has committed itself to defining and pursuing common policies and actions to preserve peace, prevent conflicts, consolidate post-conflict rehabilitation and strengthen international security in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter, as well as to consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of international law, and to assist populations facing natural or man-made disasters. It stresses that effective responses to present-day crises and security threats, including natural disasters, often need to be able to draw on both civilian and military capabilities and require closer cooperation between them. It recalls that the development of the EU's comprehensive approach and of its combined military and civilian crisis management capabilities have been distinctive features of the CSDP and represent its core added value. It recalls at the same time that the CSDP is not the only tool available and that CSDP missions should be used as part of a broader EU strategy.

Parliament recalls the need for an EU White Paper on security and defence, based on systematic and rigorous security and defence reviews conducted by the States according to common criteria and a common timetable, which would define the Union's security and defence objectives, interests and needs more clearly in relation to the means and resources available. This White Paper should identify explicitly opportunities for the pooling of resources at EU level, as well as national specialisation and capability harmonisation, in order to achieve large economies of scale

Enhancing civilian-military coordination: Parliament fully supports the transfer of the CSDP structures, including the Crisis Management Planning Directorate, the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability, the EU Military Staff and the Situation Centre, to the EEAS, under the direct authority and responsibility of the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. It stresses that no formal or informal control by the CSDP structures of the planning and programming of measures financed from the Instrument for Stability is acceptable and insists that the transferred Commission structures must not be dismantled. For the sake of the development of the EU's comprehensive approach, Members also encourage close coordination between the EEAS and all relevant units remaining within the Commission, in particular those dealing with development, humanitarian aid, civil protection and public health.

It underlines that the establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) should contribute further to the development of a truly comprehensive European approach to civilian and military crisis management, conflict prevention and peace-building and provide the EU with adequate structures.

As regards crisis management, Parliament calls for improved coordination and faster deployment of military assets in the context of disaster relief, in particular air transport capabilities, based on the lessons learned in Haiti and while respecting the primarily civilian nature of disaster relief operations. It reiterates its call for further improvement of the Civil Protection Mechanism to establish a voluntary pool of Member States’ assets on stand-by for immediate deployment in disaster response operations.

Parliament advocates improved coordination between the Member State humanitarian agencies and DG ECHO for relief operations following natural or man-made disasters. It calls for improved coordination and faster deployment of military assets in the context of disaster relief and calls for further improvement of the Civil Protection Mechanism to establish a voluntary pool of Member States’ assets on stand-by for immediate deployment in disaster response operations. The Commission is called upon Commission to further develop the framework for cooperation with NGOs and to promote the use of non-state actors in the Union's conflict prevention and conflict management activities.

Parliament also focuses on the following issues:

• Strategic level: it emphasises the need to strike a proper balance between civilian and military strategic planning capabilities, not only in terms of numbers, but also with regard to hierarchy, in order to exploit to the full the synergies available. It highlights at the same time the need to duly respect the differences between civilian and military roles and their distinctive objectives and to make sure that an appropriate mixture of human resources is allocated to each operation on a case-by-case basis. Efforts should be made to address the shortage of staff as regards experts on civilian mission planning and capability development. It also calls for an improved role for the Heads of EU Delegations and/or EU Special Representatives - when present in the area of crisis - in the civilian-military coordination efforts, also with a view to securing closer political oversight on the ground.
• Operational level: it calls for a significant strengthening of civilian planning capabilities to match the ambitions of civilian CSDP missions, by consolidating the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC). It reiterates its call for the establishment of a permanent EU operational headquarters, responsible for operational planning and conduct of EU military operations, to replace the current system of using one of the seven available headquarters on an ad hoc basis. This move would guarantee a coherent chain of command and greatly increase the EU's capacity for rapid and consistent responses to crises (notably by enhancing the EU’s institutional memory) and also reduce costs.

In parallel, Parliament calls on the Council to promptly adopt the necessary decisions to give effect to the mutual assistance clause as well as the solidarity clause which should reflect the EU's comprehensive approach and build on civil-military resources.

Building EU civilian and military capabilities: Parliament invites the Member States to concentrate on the concrete delivery of capabilities and to focus on areas with the potential for civilian-military synergies, especially those already identified, in order to achieve genuine progress as soon as possible. Members also invite the Council to deliver promptly a clear understanding of the PSC and to present concrete steps on how to start the PSC in view of the current financial crisis and decreasing national defence budgets among the EU Member States.

They also call for clarifications are regards:

• Shortage of personnel: Members call on the Member States urgently to address the chronic shortfall in civilian personnel in CSDP missions, especially EULEX Kosovo and EUPOL Afghanistan. They reiterate the need to respect a gender-balanced staffing and training approach to all missions and a gender focus on all actions undertaken;
• Training: Members stress the need for appropriate pre-deployment training to be provided, which could include participation by civilian personnel in military exercises. They strongly recommend that Member States maintain rosters of deployable civilians with relevant competences, in particular those trained for missions carried out alongside military forces. Members emphasise the enhanced role the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) should play in the field of capacity building and training for effective crisis management in the light of the setting-up of the EEAS;
• Rapid financing: Members encourage further efforts to speed up the provision of financing for civilian missions and to simplify decision-making procedures and implementation arrangements. They call on the Council to quickly take the appropriate decisions to establish the start-up fund as outlined in Article 41 TEU, after consulting the European Parliament;
• Crisis management tools: welcoming the development of the concept of Integrated Police Units (IPUs), i.e. robust, rapidly deployable, flexible and interoperable forces able to perform executive law-enforcement tasks, which, in certain circumstances, can also be deployed as part of a military operation and under military command, Members highlight the need for such units, which are especially well-suited to intervening in non-stabilised situations and in particular during the transition from military to civilian command (e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of EUFOR Althea and in Kosovo within EULEX). In that context, they fully support the use of the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF), which can be placed under military or civilian command and provides a capability for the rapid deployment of expeditionary police missions. Members stress the need for the EU, in time of crisis, to be able to deploy multidisciplinary teams within the first hours of the crisis, which would be composed of civilian, military and civ-mil experts from the EEAS and the Commission. They call on the Vice-President/High Representative, the Council and the Commission to present a common understanding of the new CSDP missions. In addition, they urge the Member States to reach agreement on expanding the concept of common costs associated with the use of the battlegroups (costs to be financed through the Athena mechanism), or on common funding of the totality of the costs of crisis management operations carried out by them. They take the view that such an agreement is necessary to make their use politically and economically acceptable. Member States are called upon to conceive the battlegroups as long-term partnerships and not to dissolve them after their stand-by period has ended, so that the resources invested in their creation are not wasted.

Providing the means for comprehensive crisis management: Parliament calls on the Member States to look further into developing dual-use capabilities for CSDP civilian missions and military operations, in particular transport capabilities, and to ensure interoperability in training and practice, etc.

It proposes in particular the following:

Research and technology: Parliament emphasises the need to coordinate and stimulate investment in dual-use technologies and capabilities, so as to quickly close capability gaps whilst avoiding unnecessary duplication, creating synergies and supporting standardisation. It recalls the essential role in this respect to be played by the European Defence Agency, in the process of identifying the needs in the capabilities field and also in pointing out the ways in which those capabilities should be shared, pooled or attained among the Union's members, in order to deliver deployable means for the successful and secure conduct and implementation of CSDP operations. It supports the establishment of the European Framework Cooperation for Security and Defence Research to ensure complementarity and synergy between defence R&T investment and research investment for enhancing civilian security;

Rapid provision of equipment: Parliament encourages further efforts to ensure that all the equipment needed for rapid crisis response activities, whether civilian or military, is readily available. It takes the view that, depending on the type of equipment, the right combination of warehousing at EU level, framework contracts and virtual stocks of equipment owned by the Member States needs to be found. The resolution welcomes, in that context, the establishment of a temporary warehouse of civilian equipment in Bosnia and Herzegovina and calls for rapid progress in the setting-up of a permanent warehouse in order to better prepare the EU for civilian crisis management;

Multinational cooperation: Members encourage further progress in the area of the pooling and sharing of assets as a cost-effective way of increasing capabilities.

Partnerships: Members also call for enhanced partnerships as follows:

• EU-UN: by exploring further ways in which the EU as a whole can better contribute to UN-led efforts, in particular in humanitarian relief, such as by launching EU rapid response 'bridging' or 'over the horizon' operations or providing an EU component of a larger UN mission;
• EU-NATO in order to avoid duplication of effort in the deployment of military capabilities when the two organisations operate in the same theatre. Parliament calls on the Member States that are members of NATO to make sure that the new Strategic Concept of NATO does not lead to unnecessary duplication of effort in the area of civilian capabilities. They also welcome initiatives to coordinate EU and NATO activities in the area of countering CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) disasters and improvised explosive devices and providing medical support as matters of relevance to both civilian and military missions;
• EU-OSCE-African Union by improving early warning and ensuring exchange of best practices and expertise in crisis management.