The missions of the PeSDC in project or in the boxes

27th January 201111th May 2018 Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Several Common (European) Security and Defense Policy (PeSDC) missions are currently in the pipeline or planned. Here are the main ones currently in progress. We bet that the interview that Alain Juppé is currently having with the High Representative will cover at least several of them

(Nb: the mission names are given for information only and do not reflect officially validated names).

Gaza Border Training Mission (EUBAM 2)

This (civilian) mission is part of a package of measures negotiated with the Palestinian and Israeli authorities, including infrastructure, the necessary equipment and the training of customs personnel to allow the flow of goods and trucks to Gaza. . Discussions on a strategic orientation paper have already begun and the Civil Crisis Management Committee (CivCom) was to devote part of its meeting to it yesterday (Wednesday 26). Several options are at stake, apparently technical but very political in fact. The European Union has, in fact, already two (civilian) missions deployed in Palestine: the Palestinian police training mission (EUPOL) or the border mission (EUBAM).

Several options are possible. Either we establish a new mission (which seems quite difficult to justify). Either we extend one of the two existing missions. If we choose the EUBAM option, this would make it possible to revive a mission which is currently on "stand by", and give it a new raison d'être. If we choose the EUPOL option, that also has a logic. This mission already trains police officers (including the judicial police) and its role has already been extended to prison training; it would be logical to have an additional extension to Customs.

A last very radical option would be to take the opportunity to merge the two missions. Which would have a certain administrative and operational logic but would be a political error. The EUBAM mission is currently holding on to an agreement related to the Israeli withdrawal from certain occupied territories. In a way, it would be to recognize that the Israeli position prevailed over the Palestinian position. This would also oblige, in the event of a new agreement, to renegotiate a European intervention agreement. Doubly delicate!

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Maritime Capacity Building Mission in the Horn of Africa (EUMAR HOA)

Started more than a year ago, work has resumed in the various working groups. Although the mission is quite simple, without real risk, and is essential given the urgency of acting on piracy, as was reminded again recently by Jack Lang's report to the UN, there are still certain political reluctance to overcome (the famous "value"). However, the experts on the file want to move forward and the COPS ambassadors have recently set an ambitious timetable. The objective is to reach a decision at the meeting of Defense Ministers in May. An exploratory mission visits the field in Yemen and Djibouti, and a strategic military options paper (MSO) is expected in March, the options would be chosen in April, and an initial military instruction (IMD) in early May 2011, to see the Conops and the OpPlan, prerequisites for the launch of the mission approved in May.This mission would last two years.

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Judicial Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUJUST Somalia)

For those who have followed the piracy affair from the start, this option was put on the table, also more than a year ago, at the same time as the Somali military training project. It reappeared in a more precise way in the options paper that the European Union has prepared to improve the legal proceedings against pirates, in Somalia itself. The objective is to help set up courts dedicated to piracy and, at the same time, to strengthen the rule of law in different parts of Somalia. This mission could be limited to legal expertise or, be broader, going as far as assistance in judgments (especially for a court with an international component) and also include a training component for Somali judges, or even an "equipment" component. . It could include different legal professions: magistrates, prosecutors, clerks.

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other actions

To this must be added two action projects which do not strictly (at least currently) fall within the traditional missions of Common Defense but correspond to the new global approach desired by the Treaty of Lisbon in terms of European foreign policy.

European action in Côte d'Ivoire

This is not, a priori, a mission of the PeSDC as such. But a request from the United Nations, transmitted by France to Cathy Ashton, to which we must respond. The idea of a European force within the United Nations force (like the French Licorne force) or, at the very least, of close coordination of the European response to this request, like what had been done in Lebanon for the UNIFIL 2 mission, must be studied.

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A European plan in the Sahel

With the kidnapping and death of several European hostages in this region between Niger, Mali and Mauritania, the need for a global plan of the European Union including a "security" component and a "development" component becomes urgent. The High Representative had promised a global plan for the beginning of January. This plan is a bit late. The PSC should examine the broad outlines at the beginning of February. And the Foreign Ministers endorse it at their February meeting (February 21). In addition to its obvious operational interest, this plan also has a symbolic and political virtue. This will be the first "real" new action presented by the High Representative since taking office. And its content at the borders of defense or home affairs missions, including a "development" or even humanitarian component, must reflect the new "global" approach of the EU.