Europe needs a permanent military headquarters

 

Last week - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland wrote a letter to Catherine Ashton suggesting a permanent civil-military European Union headquarters. British Foreign Minister William Hague suggested, before the summer break, that this would be a wasteful duplication of scarce resources - to much delight in the Eurosceptic press.

The EU has carried out 25 crisis management operations in recent years. For police and rule of law missions, it has permanent structures in Brussels. In support of military operations, though, it relies on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and member states facilities. This is wholly inefficient. The use of NATO assets is made impossible by the long-standing conflict between Cyprus and Turkey. Furthermore, it involves additional costs - as the EU needs to send dozens of officers to the various NATO commands. Also, NATO is not a brand name one wants to be identified with in large parts of the world.

Moreover, as the United Kingdom has always argued, the EU's selling point is that it combines military with civilian instruments. It does something else than NATO does. By outsourcing the military missions to NATO - it becomes difficult to coordinate between EU diplomacy, development and security. Added value gets lost. Relying on member states assets is worse. For the operation in Chad, in 2008, it took three months to get the French headquarters up and running. During the operation, 200 officers from other member states had to be accommodated in Paris. They received generous allowances.

For the national option, individual member states have to take the lead. This requires military and financial commitment as well as political responsibility and significant risks. For most, this is too much to ask. When the operation ends, officers return to their home countries and valuable experience gets lost. The EU, therefore, needs permanent structures. It needs a command and control system that integrates civilian and military instruments - a capability that does contingency planning and that is ready when it is needed. The 250 officers suggested by the five member states do not duplicate the 11,000-strong NATO command structure. They simply make EU operations run better. More than a decade ago, the United States warned about possible duplication. It has changed its position since. Former President George W. Bush admitted, in 2008, that EU security policy is "useful and necessary". It is time for William Hague to stop being holier than the pope.