Here we go! Next stop NATO

Irish soldiers are participating in an Austro-German battle group, beginning on 1 July. There are 175 personnel involved, and they will be on standby at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin.

The Dáil will be asked to approve a memorandum of understanding covering Ireland’s participation. The memorandum will be between Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Croatia and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and will set out principles in relation to the operation, deployment and management of the battle group. It defines Germany as the framework state and Austria as the logistic lead state.

The standby costs are €380,000, and the estimated additional cost for a maximum 120-day deployment of the group is €10.7 million.

The purpose of the EU battle groups is to undertake operations as outlined in the Amsterdam treaty —the Treaty on European Union. These operations, known as the Petersberg Tasks, include tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. In the Lisbon Treaty these tasks were expanded to include joint disarmament operations, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention, and post-conflict stabilisation.

In the words of Alan Shatter, “Ireland’s active engagement in EU battle groups enhances our capacity to influence the ongoing development and evolution of the rapid-response capacity of the EU.”

So much for our policy of neutrality!

Plans for an EU military command centre

Five of the biggest EU countries have tasked the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, with making plans for an EU military command centre, despite British objections (and Irish silence).

Foreign ministers of the group—France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain—urged Ashton to

“examine all institutional and legal options available to member states, including permanent structured co-operation, to develop critical CSDP [common security and defence policy] capabilities, notably a permanent planning and conduct capability.”

They added:

“We would appreciate [it] if you present conclusions of the work . . . with a view to achieving tangible results by the end of the year.” 

“Permanent structured co-operation” is an EU treaty option that allows nine or more member-states to press ahead on a project without the others, even though it would use the structures of the EU institutions. The initiative is a long-cherished one by Poland and France, which wants to go beyond EU battle groups—temporary teams from two or three EU countries ready to be sent to hotspots at short notice—towards an EU army.

The United States has said in the past that it wants the EU to do more in managing world crises. But the group of five risk angering Britain, the EU’s biggest military spender, which forcefully criticised the idea.