FSC FEBRUARY 4: EU MILITARY HEAD ON BOSNIA AND MORE

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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
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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
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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
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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,

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including "Althea" in Bosnia, and was prepared to address
capacity shortcomings in future operations.

Grushko and Haber to Address FSC-PC Meetings
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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
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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.

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AEMI
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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
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20. (SBU) A joint FSC-PC meeting on February 11 will feature
the EU monitoring mission head, Amb. Hansjoerg Haber.
SCOTT