NATIONAL POLITICS DELAY NEW EU CRISIS MANAGEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000973 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2019 TAGS: MARR PREL EUN SUBJECT: NATIONAL POLITICS DELAY NEW EU CRISIS MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE BRUSSELS 00000973 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Acting Pol M-C Mary Curtin for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C//NF) Summary: Competition between France and Germany for the leadership of the EU's new Crisis Management Planning Directorate (CMPD) has delayed the long-awaited creation of the EU's strategic planning structures. The CMPD is to fuse the EU Council Secretariat's existing crisis management directorates into one unit consisting of several integrated crisis management teams. When the need arises, these teams -- to be composed of civilian and military planners -- will write and circulate strategic plans for EU crisis management operations. The CMPD was initially expected to stand up in May, but EU Member States could not agree on the directorate's new head, with France and Germany each promoting a candidate. Once established, the unit will have to win back de facto responsibility for strategic planning of civilian management operations from the EU's Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC). The new structure should modestly enhance the efficiency of the EU's strategic planning process, but it will not address the real gaps in the EU's broader crisis management capacity: the need for improved military capabilities and better mechanisms for civilian force generation and deployment. End Summary. RESTRUCTURING AND CLEARING THE "DEAD WOOD" ¶2. (C) In separate conversations on July 7, EU officials described the planned new Crisis Management Planning Directorate (CMPD) and disclosed the political conflict that has delayed its launch. In a meeting with PolOff, Ken Hume, military operations planner in the EU Council Secretariat's Directorate for Defense Issues (DGE VIII),described the new directorate as bringing together the Secretariat's two existing directorates for strategic crisis management planning, which are divided between civilian and military issues. In the new structure, DGE VIII (military issues) and DGE IX (civilian issues) will be synthesized into one civ-mil strategic planning and capabilities unit. Elements of the EU Military Staff will also be absorbed into the CMPD. Hume said the CMPD will be composed of three to four integrated civ-mil planning teams, each focused on a different area of the world. When a crisis arises, these teams will lead the strategic planning effort and oversee operations at the strategic level. Hume said the restructuring will also be accompanied by clearing out the "dead wood" -- planners who currently occupy posts but are not effective or experienced. ¶3. (C) During a July 7 meeting with S/CRS Ambassador Herbst, Matthew Reece, Deputy Director of the EU's Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) -- the EU's civilian crisis management operational headquarters -- also described the CMPD as a strategic planning unit for both military and civilian crisis management. Like Hume, he noted that the new directorate would weed out the weak planners, who will be replaced by more capable personnel. NATIONAL POLITICS DELAY IMPLEMENTATION ¶4. (C) Hume and Reece both acknowledged that the rollout of the CMPD has been delayed by jockeying over who should lead the unit. While the EU initially intended to launch the unit and name the new director in late May 2009, the decision has been delayed indefinitely. When asked, Reece said the two candidates are Claude-France Arnould, a French national who heads DGE VIII, and Germany's PSC Ambassador Clemens Von Goetze. As Reece put it, in this time of turnover in the EU leadership, "those who don't please Paris or Berlin bring risk to themselves." RIVALRIES TO CONTINUE ¶5. (C//NF) Even after the new unit is established, Hume said there would still be internal EU rivalries. Specifically, he said the CPCC has increasingly taken over strategic planning for civilian crisis management operations from DGE IX, and would probably resist when the new CMPD takes on the strategic planning for civilian missions. Speaking personally, Hume said that although Reece was one of his best friends in the EU, the two would be bureaucratic rivals when the CMPD stands up. ¶6. (C//NF) Comment: The CMPD, once established, should BRUSSELS 00000973 002.2 OF 002 bring greater efficiency to the EU's strategic planning for civilian and military crisis management operations. Putting civilian and military operational planners in one organization will make the EU better prepared to plan for coordinated civ-mil interventions. The CMPD on its own, however, will not revolutionize the EU's capacity for crisis management. That will take increases in the Member States' military capability, improvements in the EU's system for civilian force generation and deployment, and streamlined procurement mechanisms for crisis management. End Comment. MURRAY .