14 General Concept for an EU-led mission
in Bosnia-Herzegovina
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| Council Secretariat Paper: "General Concept for the proposed ESDP Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina"
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter and EM of 19 April 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | 26 April 2004 GAERC
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
14.1 NATO Foreign Ministers agreed in December 2003 that the Alliance
should start work with the EU on planning the possible transition
to an EU mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina under Berlin Plus arrangements.[12]
The Brussels European Council endorsed this. Since then, work
has been progressing on agreeing the delineation of tasks between
the proposed EU-led force and the limited NATO presence that will
remain in Bosnia. In summary, the EU-led force will have the main
Dayton peace stabilisation role, with NATO focussing on defence
outreach and some operational tasks, including hunting people
indicted for war crimes. NATO is expected to decide formally
at its Istanbul summit in June to withdraw SFOR at the end of
2004, and the EU to confirm shortly thereafter its intention to
deploy an ESDP mission. The UK has offered to take first lead
of this mission. Italy has offered to take over from the UK.
14.2 The EU has now reached the stage in its planning
process of agreeing the General Concept for this proposed mission.
It sets out the broad parameters for the proposed EU-led force:
- Military issues: The EU-led
force will take the lead in contributing to the provision of a
safe and secure environment. It will support the EU's overall
effort, as part of the broader international effort, to help Bosnia-Herzegovina
towards closer integration with the EU and NATO. Arrangements
for command and control and reserves will take into account the
need for a regional perspective and will therefore pass from the
force commander through an EU Command Element in AFSOUTH (Allied
Forces Southern Europe) Naples to the expected operation commander,
DSACEUR (Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe). As this mission
will be under Berlin Plus arrangements, non-EU NATO Allies will
have the right to participate in the mission if they so wish.
The draft Concept also underlines the importance of rationalising
areas of shared responsibility between the proposed EU-led force
and the limited NATO presence which will remain in Bosnia once
SFOR withdraws;
- Policing Issues — the EU's aim is to establish
sustainable policing arrangements under Bosnian ownership. The
EU Police Mission and Community Assistance programmes will therefore
continue to build and strengthen local policing capacity. Initially
at least, the EU-led force will have gendarmerie-style troops
under its command, which will, among other things, act as the
tactical reserve and support the local police with riot control,
information gathering and the fight against organised crime. As
part of a regular six-month review of the EU-led force's mission,
consideration will be given to whether these gendarmerie-style
troops could move to civilian command;
- EU coherence — without prejudice to Community
competence, it is envisaged that the High Representative/EU Special
Representative (HR/EUSR; Lord Ashdown) will promote overall EU
political coordination in Bosnia;
- Legal issues — a robust mandate guaranteed
by a UN Security Council Resolution under Chapter VII, ensuring,
among other things, that the General Framework Agreement (Dayton)
is not re opened; and
- Communications strategy — a well-prepared
communications strategy, coordinated with other EU and international
players, including NATO, in which it is envisaged that the HR/EUSR
will have a key role.
The Government's view
14.3 The Minister for Europe (Mr Denis MacShane)
states that the Government strongly supports the EU's intention
to send a military mission to Bosnia under Berlin Plus arrangements,
which is reflected in the decision to offer to take first lead
of this mission. Noting the critical importance of the international
community maintaining its commitment to Bosnia-Herzegovina, so
as to build on the progress made thus far and help it further
towards integration with the EU and NATO, the Government welcomes
the draft General Concept as a further step towards making this
proposed mission a success and a good basis for further detailed
work.
14.4 The Minister explains that UK will have to contribute
towards the common costs of the operation according to the agreed
EU GNP key (approximately 19%), in addition to the costs of sending
troops to this operation; and that estimates for these common
costs, and for the UK contribution, are not yet available.
Conclusion
14.5 In 2002-03 we discussed with the Minister
and agreed arrangements for scrutiny of the European Security
and Defence Policy (ESDP), endeavouring to arrive at an appropriate
balance between ensuring that we have sufficient time and information
to scrutinise ESDP proposals effectively on the one hand and,
on the other, the time pressures and security considerations that
may often be inevitable constraints. We are content that the
Minister has abided by the spirit of these arrangements in this
instance, and are grateful for his undertakings to keep us informed,
as details of the Concept are worked up, of any significant changes
to the Concept and to submit further stages of the process for
scrutiny at the appropriate time.
14.6 We clear this document.
12 Arrangements agreed between NATO and EU member states
whereby NATO assets are available to an EU-led mission. Back
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