EU Foreign Affairs Council (Defence)

Wednesday 15th December 2010 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Gerald Howarth)]

The EU Foreign Affairs Council met in Defence Ministers formation on 9 December 2010 in Brussels. I represented the UK for the morning sessions but had to return to London before lunch when the UK was represented by Mr Tim Barrow, the UK ambassador to the Political and Security Committee.

The agenda items covered were as follows:

Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Defence Ministers Formation

The Council adopted conclusions on military capability development. These can be found at the following website:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/118347.pdf.

Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

Baroness Ashton stressed the need for improved co-operation in developing capabilities in Europe in a time of budget cuts. There was strong support from member states for increased effort in pooling and sharing, and I emphasised that this needed to be driven by voluntary national commitments to pragmatic solutions, using the example of the recent UK/France agreement. I also expressed a preference to revert to the traditional format of Defence Ministers and Foreign Ministers meeting together in the FAC to discuss common foreign security policy and common security and defence policy as a linked set of issues.

I made clear that, in the current economic climate, with most member states including the UK reducing their defence budgets, I could not agree to an increase in the budget of the European Defence Agency (EDA) for 2011. The Council subsequently agreed to freeze the EDA budget for 2011 at the same level as 2010 (€30.5 million).

The Council agreed a 2010 report from the Baroness Ashton, head of the EDA, in addition to the 2011 EDA work guidelines.

EDA Steering Board

An EDA steering board at Defence Ministers level was held in the margins of the Council. Ministers discussed the appointment of the next EDA executive, and agreed a further period of consultation on Baroness Ashton’s proposal. The steering board also took note of the agency’s ongoing work on pooling and sharing.

Informal Meeting with NATO Secretary General Rasmussen

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen briefed Ministers on the Lisbon summit and on the importance of improving the EU/NATO relationship, including in the field of capability development. This built on recent closer working in areas of counter-IEDs and medical support. Ministers agreed on the need for closer co-operation between the EU and NATO.

Informal FAC Session on operations

Ministers discussed CSDP military operations over lunch, and were briefed by the three operation commanders. Major General Howes (Op ATALANTA) stressed the need for changing the risk/reward ratio for pirates, and Ministers discussed the need for regional capacity building. Colonel Elul (EU Training Mission Somalia) briefed that training was going well, but that the reintegration of trainees in Mogadishu remained a challenge. General McColl (Operation ALTHEA) informed Ministers that the security environment remained stable in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ministers debated the need for the EU to remain in an executive role, and Ambassador Tim Barrow (UK ambassador to the Political and Security Committee), representing the UK, noted that the UN had recently renewed its mandate for a further 12 months.