CIVILIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT DIRECTORATE UNDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000109

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA (NOTALLAH) AND S/CRS (ESALAZAR)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2018
TAGS: PREL EUN
SUBJECT: CIVILIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT DIRECTORATE UNDER
PRESSURE


Classified By: USEU Pol-Mil Chief, Jeremy Brenner for reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d)


1. (SBU) Summary. The civilian crisis management directorate
in the EU Council Secretariat has been reduced from more than
40 staff to 10 with the creation of the Civilian Planning and
Conduct Capability (CPCC) which plans and runs operations.
The directorate is under severe pressure in the face of an
internal power struggle over resources and influence. End
summary


2. (C/NF) In a remarkably frank conversation,
newly-appointed Director for Civilian Aspects of Crisis
Management (DGE IX) in the EU Council Secretariat told
pol-mil chief that he is in an impossible situation, and that
his directorate has been eviscerated as part of an internal
power struggle. Finnish diplomat, Mika-Marcus Leinonen, was
named late last year to fill the DGE IX director position
when Pedro Serrano departed to head the EU liaison office at
UN Headquarters in New York. In a sweeping reorganization of
the way the EU conducts crisis management operations,
Serrano's position was divided into two parts, consisting of
an "operational commander" for civilian operations, and the
director of DGE IX, which does the conceptual and strategic
preparation for civilian crisis management operations.

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Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC)
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3. (C/NF) Prior to the reorganization, operational command
and control over some fourteen deployed civilian missions
consisted largely of Pedro Serrano and his cell phone. As
the missions became larger, more complex, and riskier
(Kosovo, Afghanistan and the Palestinian Territories) leading
voices within the EU argued that there was a need for a
dedicated professional cadre of operational planners who
could oversee logistics, procurement, security,
administrative, and other critical mission elements. The
position of Civilian Operations Commander was created -- now
held on an interim basis by Pieter Feith, Deputy Director
General for ESDP, along with the Civilian Planning and
Conduct Capability (CPCC),essentially a civilian mission
Operational Headquarters. The CPCC now numbers 65 full-time
staff, responsible for drawing up the Concept of Operations
(CONOPS),the Operational Plan (OPLAN),and all the other
elements of a civilian ESDP mission.

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DGE IX
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4. (C/NF) The "rump" DGE IX, now numbering 10 staff members
(down from more than 40) is responsible for conducting the
initial fact-finding missions and drawing up a "Crisis
Management Concept (CMC) that is used by the Political and
Security Committee (PSC) as the basis for deciding whether or
not there is an appropriate EU role in a given crisis. Once a
political decision to consider undertaking a mission has been
made, the CPCC takes on the task of operational planning. In
addition to fact-finding and strategic concepts, DGE IX has
the mandate to work with "horizontal" partners, such as the
UN and the U.S. to develop training and deployment concepts,
and draw lessons learned from completed missions. According
to Mika-Marcus, the gutting of DGE IX's resources has put him
in a position where he cannot fulfill his responsibilities.
His requests for additional staff have been rejected. His
comments made it clear that he is feeling overwhelmed by the
demands being placed on him, and he believes that he has no
support within the Council Secretariat.

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Hidden Agenda
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5. (C/NF) Mika-Marcus clearly believes that he has been set
up for failure as a result of a hidden agenda to do away with
his directorate and create a unified civ-mil crisis
management planning apparatus. With the EU Military Staff,
the Civ-Mil Strategic Planning Cell, and the Directorate for
Defense Aspects of Crisis Management (DGE VIII) each
encroaching on his putative mandate to do conceptual
development in civilian crisis management, Mika-Marcus sees
himself being marginalized, and fears that the inability of
DGE IX to perform its responsibilities adequately will be
cited as evidence of the need to establish a unified
strategic planning body. He believes that this hidden agenda
is being orchestrated by Claude-France Arnould, the director

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of DGE VIII, with the support of Pierre de Boissieu, the
Deputy Secretary General who controls personnel and budgets.

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Comment
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6. (C/NF) Mika-Marcus may well be the sacrificial lamb in a
well-orchestrated plan to consolidate strategic planning
capabilities within the EU. The French have long advocated
such a structure, and have been stymied by the UK in building
a standing military planning staff. He may also be caught in
the cross-fire of a long-standing internal power struggle
between Pedro Serrano and Claude-France Arnould that seems
(for the moment) to have been decided in Arnould's favor.
Beyond personal jockeying for position, a unified civ-mil
planning staff might be easier to sell to skeptical Member
States, and as the Treaty of Lisbon comes into effect,
merging the substantial Commission resources with Council
crisis management structures, the idea could gain support.
End comment.
.