Battlegroups: Assembly in favour of permanent HQ
Paris, 5 June 2007 - On Tuesday the WEU Assembly recommended setting up a permanent multinational operations headquarters responsible for planning the deployment and use of the 1 500-strong “battlegroups” that the European Union could send to external theatres of operation in under 10 days.
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Presenting a report on “The EU battlegroups” on behalf of the Defence Committee, Mr Jean-Pierre Kucheida (France, Socialist Group) recalled that this concept had been given the final go-ahead in June 2004 on the basis of the successful Operation Artemis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the summer of 2003. Fully operational since last January, there are to date 15 battlegroups which have been or are being set up, involving the forces of 25 of the 27 EU member states. 13 of the battlegroups are already scheduled for tours of duty over the next three years.
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According to the concept adopted by the EU, “a battlegroup is a minimum military-effective, credible, rapidly deployable, coherent force package, capable of stand-alone operations or for the initial phase of larger operations”.
On the basis of “feedback” and “a few errors without serious consequences to date”, Mr Kucheida stressed that establishing a “permanent chain of command” for the battlegroups was becoming “a major and urgent matter”. He felt that “an autonomous command chain” could be set up “even in the absence of any genuine common European security policy”.
The Assembly also asked for the battlegroups to be given the requisite equipment and training for them to be operational as soon as they went on standby. Finally, the report underscored the need to supplement land force elements with sea and air support.
