by Andreas Pruefert – 6/9/2006
The «Eufor R.D. Congo» has sent its first officers to Congo to prepare the mission which will support the elections in this country. The political decision is taken and it is important now to support all deployed military personnel that they all may come back home safely.
19 EU nations will send troops plus Turkey. The High Representative (HR) for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, Solana, stated this week at the Headquarters for this mission in Geltow (near Berlin, Germany): The Congo mission could be a case example for future EU missions.
What does he really mean? That there had been a very controversial political debate about the UN request and the way it was dealt within the EU institutions? That even the HR himself was blamed for bad preparation? That difficult and long discussions had to be held on who would take the lead of this mission? That there was again a long-lasting search for other EU countries contributing to the mission?
Additionally, there is also a growing discussion about EU operational capabilities. Up to now no EU Headquarter is available for such missions. The EU is currently using national assets and for each further mission negotiations will be necessary to decide which country provides the HQ. Five HQs are foreseen for EU missions in general but all insiders also know that from these five HQs not all are actually functioning well.
In this mission fully run from the beginning by the EU varying standards in regard to personal protection and the social conditions of the military personnel are reality. These differences under the EU flag are not acceptable as example for future missions. The governments and politicians who decide about an EU mission should ask themselves if minimum EU standards should be fixed in the future similar to e.g. UN standards fixed for medical care in UN missions.
We hope that the HR didn’t mean those examples just mentioned. In any case EUROMIL will follow the mission and evaluate this first real EU mission very carefully because it will be a test for the EU-Battlegroup concept as well.
Secretary General
