Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BRUSSELS2610
2005-07-08 15:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

CIVCOM: ITS PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES

Tags:  PREL SOCI MOPS EUN USEU BRUSSELS 
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081539Z Jul 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002610 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA AND S/CRS
PASS USAID FOR PPC/DCO, DCHA/CMM, AND DCHA/OFDA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2015
TAGS: PREL SOCI MOPS EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: CIVCOM: ITS PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES


Classified By: USEU Poloff Lee Litzenberger for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002610

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA AND S/CRS
PASS USAID FOR PPC/DCO, DCHA/CMM, AND DCHA/OFDA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2015
TAGS: PREL SOCI MOPS EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: CIVCOM: ITS PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES


Classified By: USEU Poloff Lee Litzenberger for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary: A June 29 meeting between USEU officials and
a group of counselors from the EU Committee for Civilian
Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) clarified the role that
the committee plays within the ESDP structure and the
challenges it faces inside and outside the EU. A relatively
new committee, CIVCOM,s major responsibility is to provide
technical advice and other support on civilian crisis
management operations to the Political and Security Committee
(PSC). CIVCOM,s guidelines for future operations include a
preference for missions that provide quality if not quantity,
priority for regional conflicts with direct security
implications for Europe, and emphasis on operations that
either support regional organizations or have a definite and
identifiable end date. End summary.


2. (C) On June 29, USEU officials met with counselors from
the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management
(CIVCOM) to discuss the body,s role, priorities, and
challenges. The six counselors represented Austria, Finland,
France, Lithuania, Malta, and the UK. CIVCOM is a relatively
new body, established by an EU Council decision in May 2000
within the general framework of strengthening the EU's Common
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and in particular, the
European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Its members are
relatively lower-ranking diplomats, most of whom do not have
a technical background in crisis response.


3. (C) CIVCOM reports to the EU's Committee of Permanent
Representatives (COREPER),and its official responsibilities
are to "provide information, formulate recommendations, and
give advice on civilian aspects of crisis management" to the
Political and Security Committee (PSC). The counselors
described the committee as a civilian "mirror to the EUMC"
(EU Military Committee),playing an "important but not
leading role" as an advisory body for ESDP operations. Unlike
the EUMC, however, CIVCOM does not have a group of
professional support personnel, which is institutionalized on

the military side in the form of the EU Military Staff
(EUMS). Instead, CIVCOM calls upon and coordinates member
states' civilian crisis management experts as situations
dictate.


4. (C) As a bureaucratic body, CIVCOM sticks closely to its
advising and coordinating roles, trying to identify available
capabilities and relevant issues and objectives as well as
define the appropriate structure of operations for the EU in
general and for specific missions as they arise. The
counselors stressed that it is political pressure from
individual member states that serves as the driving force for
bringing various crisis situations to the fore, and they
mentioned as an example Portugal,s interest in a mission to
Guinea-Bissau. An exception to this process has been the
current study of a mission to Aceh, which the counselors
say--with some frustration--was initiated via UNSR
Ahtisaari,s close relationship with HiRep Solana. Other EU
officials have expressed that they feel they are being
"maneuvered into" a mission by Ahtisaari, who as facilitator
of the Aceh peace talks had initially fostered the idea of
sending first EU forces and then an EU monitoring team to
oversee the negotiations. The option of peacekeeping forces
was rejected by the Indonesian government, but the EU role in
monitoring the ceasefire was accepted by both parties to the
conflict. The Political and Security Committee (PSC) is
expected to forward the proposal for an Aceh monitoring
mission to CIVCOM on July 8 for technical advice on the
structure of the mission and to begin to identify necessary
personnel.


5. (C) The CIVCOM counselors provided some guidelines or
priorities for current and future civilian operations. The
first was seeking "quality over quantity," which they said
explained the small size of some EU missions (between 10 and
25 people). The second was giving priority to regional
conflicts with direct security implications for Europe
(Georgia, Moldova, and the Balkans). The third was designing
operations that supported regional organizations or at least
had a definite end date and could be handed off to long-term
development programs. As for future collaboration with the
US, the CIVCOM counselors appeared open to discussing how
parts of the planned US-EU civilian crisis management
cooperation agenda can be informally implemented. They
welcomed the opportunity to have officers from the Office of
the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS)
present to CIVCOM how the US wants to proceed regarding the
agenda. The UK Presidency urged a cautious, step-by-step
approach to avoid reopening contentious issues over the
respective roles of the EU and NATO in crisis response.


6. (C) The counselors acknowledged there exists competition
between the Council and the Commission because the division
of labor over crisis management has not yet been defined. One
unequivocal Commission responsibility is its control of the
CFSP budget, which funds civilian operations, but the CIVCOM
counselors expressed concern that it is too small
(approximately $63 million euros annually) and admitted that
there are only four million euros left for the rest of the
year. The counselors also described the Commission,s
mechanisms, including the European Humanitarian Aid Office
(ECHO),as better able to handle crisis prevention, and to
run long-term development programs. They pointed out the
difference in the mandates between ESDP crisis management
operations and Commission funded programs, noting that ESDP
might impose conditionality on an operation in an effort to
improve governance while the Commission can provide aid on
the basis of need without any conditions.


7. (C) Regarding the civilian-military (or civ-mil) cell
that was recently declared operational, the CIVCOM counselors
maintained that it will be evolving for a long time in both
substance and infrastructure (so far there are only about
four of the eventual 17 planners staffing it and some will be
double-hatted as EU Military Staff personnel). It was
described as more of an instrument rather than an independent
actor, and the counselors said that operational planning
would continue to be done by the Council Secretariat,s
External Relations Directorate for Civilian Crisis Management
and Coordination (DG E IX) in the foreseeable future. As for
funding civilian-military operations, counselors hinted that
although the CFSP budget is reserved exclusively for the
civilian aspects of such operations, there is "room for
interpretation" regarding what assets are considered civilian
and CFSP money may be able to fund some capabilities that
would be used for civilian purposes in these operations but
in other circumstances would be considered military.

McKinley

.