Examination of Witnesses (Questions 40-43)
Mr Andrew Mathewson, Mr Robert Regan and Mr Ian Hall
26 JUNE 2008
Q39 Chairman: In terms of the timetable,
you were just talking about completion during the French presidency
but you do not see this as happening early in the French presidency.
Mr Regan: No.
Chairman: We need to take that into account
in terms of clearing the documents if you are pleading inclusion.
Q40 Lord Crickhowell: If we turn
to Battlegroups, earlier in the summer Lord Hamilton and I, and
our special adviser and clerk, visited Warminster and had a look
at the Battlegroup in operation. I asked Brigadier Butler, who
sadly has announced his decision to leave the Army, the obvious
question about our ability to deploy the Battlegroup in the second
half of 2008 in view of our commitments elsewhere. He gave a suitably
diplomatic and military answer but I think that both Lord Hamilton
and I came away with a big question mark hanging over the situation
reinforced by the increasing pressure since. Would you like to
give me an answer as to how capable you think we will be of deploying
a Battlegroup if the pressures we are under elsewhere continue?
Mr Mathewson: It was good to see you and Lord
Hamilton at the exercise and you will have seen that the preparations
for the Battlegroup are serious. There is no doubt that we are
taking our commitment seriously. The training was of a very high
quality and the planning has been conducted seriously. You will
probably accuse me, like Brigadier Butler, of giving you a diplomatic
answer to your question which is that our preparations are serious.
The Battlegroup is available. We have the capacity to deploy it
and to scale it for whatever mission is required with the capabilities
but clearly the government will have to take a careful view at
the time on competing demands. The Battlegroup is found from our
Joint Rapid Reaction Force and there may, at the time, be competing
demands on the Joint Rapid Reaction Force. The fact that it is
drawn from the Joint Rapid Reaction Force means that it is not
a force which is earmarked for Iraq or Afghanistan but we all
know that contingencies arise that we have not foreseen and there
may be national demands on the JRRF which we have not foreseen.
I can only say this would be a matter for decision at the time
but that the capability is serious and available subject to those
pressures.
Q41 Lord Crickhowell: You will recall,
as we watched the Royal Fusiliers operation in the afternoon,
we heard that they had all been involved in almost every operation
that one could think of in an intensive way over the previous
five years and, therefore, one is only too acutely aware that
if they did happen to deploy them it would be adding yet another
of the excessive burdens that those individuals have had to bear
over quite a long time.
Mr Mathewson: Yes, indeed. The battalion has
been very active and it will be active again in the future. Its
role at the moment is to be one of the ready battalions on the
JRRF and they are available whether for a national contingency
or an EU contingency. I can only say that the government would
take these factors into account on any decision on the use of
the Battlegroup, bearing in mind also there is a second Battlegroup
on standby alongside the British Battlegroup.
Q42 Chairman: Could I ask, in very
general terms, as to whether the evacuation of European nationals
from a difficult situation, a possible ESDP operation, could be
undertaken by Battlegroup?
Mr Mathewson: Yes, that is just the sort of
thing which conceptually could be undertaken by the Battlegroup.
Q43 Chairman: I would like to ask
our last question and come back, in one sense, to EDA and the
role of the EDA as defined in the Lisbon Treaty. If the Treaty
were to enter into force it would give the EDA a specific legal
basis in the EU's primary law and it would also, to some extent,
enlarge its mandate. If the Treaty does not come into force, do
you see this in any way as undermining the continuing authority
and legitimacy of the European Defence Agency?
Mr Mathewson: No, we do not. The EDA operates
now perfectly adequately on the basis of the joint action adopted
in 2004. This is a legally binding decision. No, is the short
answer. We see it continuing to operate perfectly adequately on
the basis of its current joint action.
Chairman: Mr Mathewson, can I thank you
and Mr Regan and Mr Hall for having come and taken such a wide
range of questions from us. We have found it very useful and it
helps us in our consideration of the various matters which do
come before us in the areas for which we are responsible.
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