Quotes that characterise the European Union

Nothing better than clear statements anyone can understand:

"The EUMC recognizes the co-ordinated effort of the Wise Pen, EDA, EUMS, CEUMC, DGE VIII, DGE IX, CPCC, DGA5 and Joint SITCEN in producing this mature draft NEC Concept."

Source: Military Advice on the draft EU Concept for Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) in support of ESDP (13 November 2009)

PS.: And in the first comment to this post you can find the same sentence as a hyperlink story.

Progress in EU military capabilities development - Lisbon without Lisbon?

One of the frequent critiques to the Lisbon Treaty is the extension of EU competencies with regard to military activities.

I have the feeling that those who are criticising the Treaty for including the obvious are already missing crucial developments.

While they claim that there will be a European army under Lisbon - which is nowhere in the text - the European military co-operation is further advancing even without the entry in to force of the Treaty.

Although my expertise in the field of European defence policy is very limited, taking a look at the latest Single Progress Report on the Development of EU Military Capabilities (which is very technical and would need more thorough studying from someone with more knowledge) clearly reveals that a lot is going on already.

The developments are based on the military capabilities enhancement strategy, and one of the goals seems to be to foster the co-operation between the Council's Military Committee (EUMC) and the European Defence Agency (EDA).

The latest conclusions (18 May) of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) also mention intensified co-operation between the EDA and the Commission.

So the development of military capabilities and inter-institutional co-operation seems to be advancing step by step - and Lisbon looks more like an institutionalisation of what is already becoming a practice, and not much like something new.

NATO is planning war on German and French territory around Strasbourg in April - updated

In early April, NATO is celebrating its 60th anniversary in Strasbourg with a huge summit.

For Christoph Marischka, writing for the (interesting but mostly quite leftish) German online portal Telepolis, this will be the state of emergency. Police, army, secret services will join in their efforts to "protect" the international VIPs, limiting citizens' freedoms and mixing up competencies between national, transnational, and international authorities with military and non-military status.

And although the scenario Marischka is painting is rather biased towards the dark side (or better: against), it gives an idea about what the French-German border area around Strasbourg can expect in April:

We will get the usual summit war between the international military (and pseudo-military) forces and the not less militaristic anti-militaristic forces from all over the continent.

Update (11 February 2009):

Today I met somebody who lives and works in Strasbourg. She says that already now it is getting crazy, she and all her colleagues have to fill out questionnaires, and have to announce which guests they expect for the days of the Summit.

She recommends avoiding Strasbourg for these days.

ERASMUS for soldiers: The European young officers exchange scheme

As I have read in the Conclusions of the French EU-Council Presidency on the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), Europe will get ERASMUS for soldiers:

On 10 November 2008, the Council approved the launch of the European young officers exchange scheme, modelled on Erasmus. The aim is to develop exchanges between officers in their initial training phase, in order to reinforce the ability of the European armed forces to work together and the interoperability of forces. This initiative, which will facilitate exchanges between national training colleges, will be implemented on a national and voluntary basis, with assistance from the European Security and Defence College (ESDC).

I am looking forward to "L'auberge espanole II", with young European soldiers drinking and having fun in military bases all over the continent... :-D

World class cluster bombs from the European Union

During the EU Council meeting on Monday and Tuesday, the member states issued a document titled:

Conclusions on the Commission communication "Towards world-class clusters in the European Union: implementing the broad-based innovation strategy"

And on Wednesday, six EU member states failed to ratify the new UN convention against cluster bombs. Maybe there was some kind of misunderstanding, and the six countries are now going to develop world-class cluster bombs...?!

European Union to withdraw troops from Bosnia

At an informal EU Council meeting between the ministers of defense, all but two or three countries have agreed to start a gradual withdrawl of European Union military forces from Bosnia. According to the International Harald Tribune, these countries are Slovakia, Italy, and Greece.

Supposedly by chance, also yesterday, Bosnian President Haris Silajdžić, in a speech in front of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has called for a reformed constitution in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to take full account of the Dayton agreement that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995.