EU peacekeeping mission funded by staff collection

A landmark European peacekeeping mission had to be funded by a whip-round of staff and a loan from a British ambassador’s entertainment budget, a damning report on Europe’s joint defence efforts revealed today.

The document exposes wasteful, piecemeal and sometimes chaotic joint defence tactics, which, it says, threaten the smooth-running of Europe’s plans under the Lisbon Treaty to step up combined defence initiatives and boost the EU’s international role.

Author Nick Witney, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and former Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, paints a picture of the EU’s current foreign policy chief Javier Solana ringing round national defence ministries begging the odd plane or qualified surgeon to bolster Europe’s joint efforts.

And he blames “inertia and resistance in the defence machinery” for thwarting the EU’s declared aim to make a real contribution to global security.

The report says Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty should not be allowed to prevent acceleration of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy goals.

When it comes to defence, says Mr Witney, the EU cannot afford to move at the pace of the slowest, and must invoke a “multi-speed Europe”.

He describes a “chronic capabilities gap”, with defence budgets “squandered” on Cold War-style military operations.

Europe keeps almost two million men and women in uniform, says the report - half a million more than the US – yet 70% of land forces are unable to operate outside national territory.

The total number of personnel deployed today in joint European defence and security operations is about 6,000 – 0.3% of European military manpower.

And the failure to update defence capabilities means much of the €203bn spent by EU governments every year on defence is “simply wasted”.

Mr Witney describes some joint operations as haphazard, singling out an EU-led peace monitoring mission in 2005 in Aceh, Indonesia – a mission that has been cited as a model for future international peace operations.

The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) was a test case newly established civilian crisis management initiatives under the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).

But Mr Witney writes in his report: “Javier Solana has often been reduced to phoning defence ministers in person to secure a single transport plane or field surgeon.

“In Aceh, the operation was initially financed on the personal credit cards of mission personnel along with a loan from the entertainment allowance of the British ambassador in Jakarta.”

Duplication within the defence industry has led to a massive waste of resources and inflated prices – making European defence companies vulnerable to takeovers from US rivals.

Mr Witney urges EU defence ministries to do more to pool resources and co-operate more closely.

And he calls for those European governments most willing and able to co-operate on defence to form “pioneer groups” each specialising in areas such as research and technology, armaments co-operation, defence industry co-operation, and the pooling of civilian and military capabilities.

The countries most active in various pioneer groups would constitute a European “core group” on defence based on the “permanent structured co-operation” model envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty.

The report names seven EU countries, – Ireland, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg and Malta – which either need to boost their defence commitment or allow others to go ahead without them.

Lord George Robertson, former NATO Secretary General and ECFR council member commented: “EU governments can no longer to afford to procrastinate – Europe’s security is being jeopardised by the reluctance of defence ministries to change and to work together.”

The report, called “Re-energising Europe’s Security and Defence Policy”, promotes the creation of an EU military headquarters in Brussels, to integrate joint crisis management operations, and Mr Witney says the current problems are about mindset: “For defence ministries, change and co-operation are deeply counter-cultural. It is down to heads of government to demand progress – and to do more to explain to their publics and parliaments how vital this is for the security of every European”.