country to any possible security challenges. EUFOR continues to provide active support to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in pursuit of persons indicted for war crimes. In January 2010, the Council of the EU decided to start providing non-executive capacity-building and training support that would contribute to strengthening local authorities. EUFOR also supports the implementation of a number of tasks that have been transferred from the operation to local authorities, i.e. countermine activities and the management of weapons and ammunition storage sites. Other on-going EU missions are EUPM BiH, EUPT EUSEC RD Congo, EUPOL RD Congo, EUSSR Guinea-Bissau, EUJUST LEX, EUBAM Rafah Kosovo, EULEX Kosovo, EUMM Georgia.
national armed forces, towards ever closer synchronisation. SAFE means a Europe-wide burden-sharing in the area of military capabilities, which was already in evidence in the composition of the Battle Groups or in the Eurocorps. Over and above this, SAFE proposes that military careers in national armed forces should be opened up to Europeans from all Member States. This is already standard practice in the Belgian armed forces and is being introduced as part of joint organisational arrangements for German and Dutch reservists. In the context of SAFE, a European soldiers’ statute is to be drawn up governing training standards, rules of engagement and degrees of operational free-
A European Army?
Get Real! Get Real! Get Real!
It is anticipated that over the next few years the EU will in fact expand its international commitments under its own flag and identity. But will this also lead to a true European military force? The Lisbon Treaty provides that military capabilities remain in national hands. However, it also stipulates that Member States can voluntarily pool civilian and military resources for the implementation of Common Security and Defence operations. At the Seventh Congress on European Security and Defence held in Berlin in November 2008, Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, introduced SAFE (Synchronised Armed Forces Europe), a concept for the ever closer synchronisation of European armed forces in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy. In January 2009 the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs endorsed the concept by a wide majority and incorporated it into the European Parliament’s annual report on the European Security and Defence Policy. Discussions concerning the implementation of the concept are currently taking place in the Council of the European Union. SAFE is based on voluntary participation (opt-in model) and is intended to lead to the synchronisation of European armed forces. It stands for the dynamic further development of the current arrangements, which amount to little more than close cooperation between
dom, duties and rights, quality of equipment and medical care, and social security arrangements in the event of death, injury or incapacity. SAFE is intended to contribute to the further development of integrated European security structures. The idea is that these would combine civilian and military capabilities and secure a high level of social acceptance in the Member States. SAFE may not yet be a European army per se, but it is an essential step in that direction. And SAFE has good chances of being realised, first because the European Parliament is behind it and most importantly because Germany and France, influential vanguards of a true European army, strongly support the plan. ms&t
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