FSC FEBRUARY 4: EU MILITARY HEAD ON BOSNIA AND MORE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000018 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC, SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA JCS FOR J-5 OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) NSC FOR HAYES USUN FOR LEGAL, POL EUCOM FOR J-5 CENTCOM FOR J-5 UNVIE FOR AC GENEVA FOR CD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE RS XG SUBJECT: FSC FEBRUARY 4: EU MILITARY HEAD ON BOSNIA AND MORE ¶1. (SBU) Summary: French General Bentegeat, chair of the EU military committee, reviewed current EU military operations and the European Security and Defense Policy in the Forum for Security Cooperation on February 4. Bentegeat said EU cooperation with NATO and the U.S. was good. Belarus called for a new decision to define "force majeure" in the wake of Georgia's recent refusal of a Russian request for a Vienna Document inspection and evaluation. Belarus also declined to support the draft decision to update the Code of Conduct questionnaire until its suggested edits were addressed. The chair confirmed Russian DFM Grushko will provide Russian views on European security architecture at a joint FSC-PC meeting on February 18. End summary. EU Military Operations: All for One, One for All -------------- --- ¶2. (SBU) General Henri Bentegeat, chairman of the EU military committee and former French CHOD, told the FSC Security Dialogue on February 4 that EU military operations complemented NATO, UN, and OSCE efforts to bring peace and stability to Europe and other regions. Bentegeat said cooperation with other international organizations was good and singled out Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. for their national support to EU missions in Bosnia, Africa, and the Gulf of Aden/Indian Ocean. Slow Start, But Accelerating -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Bentegeat admitted EU military operations, which only began in 2003, have been slow in starting, although the Bosnia and Chad operations began within a month of the political decision to engage. He also noted as a weakness lack of publicity for EU military operations. The EU, like NATO and the UN, was always engaged in a struggle for adequate resources, particularly for out of area operations in a period of economic austerity. ¶4. (SBU) Bentegeat said the strengths of the EU in military operations were its global approach, which also included complementary civilian programs, and capacity building from extant resources within Member States, including helicopters, transport aviation, and space assets. The EU's "European 
Defense and Security Policy" (ESDP),just updated in December 2008, reflects a pragmatic approach to security issues. Its priorities were conflict prevention, security in Europe and adjacent regions, and cooperation with the UN and other international and regional organizations. ¶5. (SBU) Bentegeat briefly surveyed current EU operations in Bosnia, noting that operation will transition from peacekeeping to an assistance and advisory mission; Chad; anti-piracy in waters off Somalia; Kosovo; Afghanistan; and Georgia. ¶6. (SBU) Bentegeat concluded his presentation by noting that in the current security environment all international organizations are in a crisis of legitimacy and effectiveness and the EU had the potential to fill in with, of course, close cooperation with the OSCE. Russia Wants to Get in the Tent -------------- USOSCE 00000018 002 OF 004 ¶7. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) challenged Bentegeat to explain why the EU lacked a "normative" document for cooperation with Russia similar to an EU-NATO agreement. Ulyanov said Russia resented its second-class status vis-Q-vis EU members as it was not allowed to participate in peacekeeping operation decision-making. Russia was reconsidering its support of EU operations for this reason. Bentegeat reported extensive consultations with the Russian military, including Russia's CHOD, who recently addressed the EU CHOD committee. Bentegeat regretted that "statutory requirements" prevented closer cooperation, perhaps "something that could be worked on," noting that the EU and Russia had recently concluded an agreement governing the exchange of classified information. U.S. Support for EU Operations -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) observed the U.S. welcomed the EU contribution in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and the Gulf of Aden adjacent to Somalia. In response to Neighbour's questions, Bentegeat said that while nothing precluded the merger of EU anti-piracy operations off Somalia with "Combined Task Force 151" led by the U.S. or even a prospective UN naval force, a merger was unnecessary as cooperation was just about perfect among the different naval forces in the region. Bentegeat noted that Somalia had a very long coastline and there was plenty of work for all. ¶9. (SBU) Also in response to U.S. questions, Bentegeat rued the present economic recession made the quest for adequate resources much harder. European publics were reluctant to underwrite military operations that were not directly related to territorial defense. Bentegeat emphasized that the EU must improve air transport resources, especially for operational use. He said that combined procurement through the European Defense Agency was engaging many smaller European states who would otherwise not be able to contribute to the materiel needs of the EU. While the EU sought to improve the defense industrial base of its members, it did not preclude continued cooperation with NATO. Much of this was done through a NATO-EU capacity coordination group that tried to avoid overlap and redundancy in procurement. Georgia Calls for Reinvigorated EU Presence -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Georgia (Giorgadze) praised the EU for its contributions to peace and security in the Caucasus, including the cease-fire brokered in August last year and the continuing EU monitoring mission, adding that Russia was still preventing full access for the monitors. Noting the closing of the OSCE Mission to Georgia and the marginalization of the UN mission, UNOMIG, Giorgadze called for the EU to "reinvigorate" its role in the region with a more robust and peacekeeping presence. For the longer term, Giorgadze suggested an ESDP mission to Georgia to gird local efforts to achieve peace, security, good governance, and economic and social development. ¶11. (SBU) Turkey (Begec) welcomed a strong, meaningful role for the EU in security. Turkey supported the ESDP and was a participant in all EU operations to which it was invited. Turkey had made large contributions to these operations, USOSCE 00000018 003 OF 004 including "Althea" in Bosnia, and was prepared to address capacity shortcomings in future operations. Grushko and Haber to Address FSC-PC Meetings -------------- ¶12. (SBU) The FSC chair, France (Lebedel),announced that Ambassador Hansjoerg Haber (Germany),the head of the EU monitoring mission to Georgia, would address the Security Dialogue on February 11 in a joint meeting with the Permanent Council. Lebedel also informed that the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office, Greece, had asked Russian DFM Aleksandr Grushko to address another joint meeting on February 18. ¶13. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) confirmed that Grushko would speak on "ways and means to improve the European security architecture" and urged all delegations to participate in an "interactive dialogue" on this subject. ¶14. (SBU) NOTE: It was partially due to U.S. urging that the February 18 meeting was expanded to a joint FSC-PC format. End note. Vienna Document -------------- ¶15. (SBU) Belarus (Krayushkin) expressed concern at the recent report of "noncompliance with verification activity under the Vienna Document." Such incidents, Krayushkin said, could lead to further erosion of the document and other agreed measures. He asserted that "force majeure" should not be used "selectively" by participating States, citing FSC Decision 6/97. Noting that the Vienna Document does not explicitly define force majeure, Krayushkin proposed a separate new decision that would define the concept. He suggested earlier efforts at defining force majeure, among them a UK paper in 2001 (FSC.DEL/17/01/Rev.1) and a Russo-Belarusian proposal in 2003 (FSC.DEL/172/03),could form the basis of a new attempt. He looked forward to seeing a Canadian paper now in preparation. Code of Conduct Questionnaire -------------- ¶16. (SBU) Belarus (Krayushkin) reported that it could not join consensus on the draft decision for an update to the Code of Conduct Questionnaire as its edits (FSC.DEL/186/08) to paragraph 3 of the draft decision had not been accepted. Belarus was, however, open to further consultations. Conventional Ammunition -------------- ¶17. (SBU) Denmark announced a further donation of 59,325 euros to the ammunition demilitarization project in Georgia. The OSCE Conflict Prevention Center (CPC) had earlier reported that the project could be completed before the closing of the OSCE mission in Georgia in February if additional funds were obtained. Georgia thanked Denmark and Greece for their contributions. ¶18. (SBU) Germany announced a 25,000 euros contribution for the first "tranche" of the Ukraine melange project. USOSCE 00000018 004 OF 004 AEMI -------------- ¶19. (SBU) The CPC (Geertsen) reported that although 54 participating States had made their submissions to the 2008 Annual Exchange of Military Information, 20 had yet to comply with the requirement (FSC.DEC/17/07) to provide a copy to the Secretariat's Document Distribution Unit for electronic distribution to all delegations. Next Meeting -------------- ¶20. (SBU) A joint FSC-PC meeting on February 11 will feature the EU monitoring mission head, Amb. Hansjoerg Haber. SCOTT