Two new heads at the helm of defense Europe?
(BRUXELLES2 / Exclusive) The European Defense crisis management structures should see new faces soon. If our information is correct, Cathy Ashton could soon announce the appointments of the Civilian Operations Commander (CPCC) and the Chief European Defense Mission Planner (CMPD), in addition to that of the Director of the "Multilateral and Global Affairs" department who works closely with these structures. If this news is confirmed (which is not yet the case), the names will come as no surprise to those who follow Defense Europe issues since one leads the European Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) while the other is the Belgian Ambassador to COPS.
A German ambassador at the head of the CPCC
German Ambassador Hansjörg Haber, who has been leading the observation mission (EUMM) in Georgia since its establishment in September 2008, could thus take the helm of the CPCC (the civil conduct and planning capability / Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability ). In other words, the "Commander of Civilian Operations". Haber is a good connoisseur of the problems of planning peacekeeping missions. He started his diplomatic career in the United Nations department of the German Foreign Ministry.
Born in February 1953 (58 years old), graduated in economics from the University of Münich (1978-1981), after an education in the United Kingdom at the Atlantic College (General Certificate of education, 1972), trained at the german school of diplomacy, Hansjörg Haber began his career with several posts abroad: Paris, Moscow and Manila (1984-1989) before returning to Berlin. His first post in the federal administration was in the United Nations department of the ministry, as desk officer (1989-1992), a department in which he then climbed the various levels, as deputy director (1996-1999) then as director (2002- 2006). In particular, he is responsible for strategic planning and the development of national positions at the UN, particularly in peacekeeping missions. In between, he held three posts abroad: in Ankara (1992-1996) as a political adviser; in Moscow (1999-2002) as Head of Press and Information; then in Beirut (2007-2008), as ambassador, notably ensuring liaison with the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL). In addition to German, English and French, he speaks several languages: Russian and Turkish, with knowledge of Farsi and certain Arabic languages.
A Belgian ambassador at the head of the CMPD
It is a Belgian ambassador, Walter Stevens, who could take the head of the CMPD (Crisis Management and Planning Directorate). Basically, the structure that plans defense operations. An essential post because it is there that the options and future missions of the PeSDC are built and worked out and that feeds the political machine with plans and projects. It is particularly within the CMPD that possible options are being prepared for military support or a PeSDC mission in the face of the Libyan crisis.
Degree in Political and Social Sciences, born in 1956, Walter Stevens has been the permanent representative of Belgium to the COPS since 2009. A career diplomat since 1990, he was successively attached to the Representation of Belgium to the United Nations in Geneva; First Secretary at the Belgian Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Washington (United States); adviser on commercial matters (WTO) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Throughout the 2000s, he exercised more political functions. From 2000 to 2003, he was thus the sherpa (diplomatic adviser) of the Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, then chief of staff of the Minister for Development Cooperation (2003-2004), Marc Verwilghen, to move to Foreign Affairs with Karel de Gucht (2004 to 2009, first as deputy chief of staff then as chief of staff.
The management of European Defense structures will thus have been entirely renewed in just over a year: with a new director at the European Defense Agency (Claude-France Arnould, France), a new head of the Center of situation, SitCen (Ilkka Salmi, Finland), a permanent president for the COPS, the political and security committee which brings together the ambassadors of the 27 (Olof Skoog, Sweden), a general secretary in charge of the PeSDC (Maciej Popowski, Poland) , without forgetting those who, without being new, have been appointed recently: the Chief of Military Staff (Ton Van Osch, the Netherlands), the Director of the EU Satellite Center (Tomaž Lovren?i?, Slovenia ) and the chairman of the military committee (Håkan Syrén, Sweden). They are now in working order, at least in theory.
