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. -------------- -- Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) -------------- -- ¶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. -------------- DGE IX -------------- ¶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. -------------- Hidden Agenda -------------- ¶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 BRUSSELS 00000109 002 OF 002 of DGE VIII, with the support of Pierre de Boissieu, the Deputy Secretary General who controls personnel and budgets. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶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. .