A European battlegroup company lost in the Battle of Crimea
(BRUSSELS2 - exclusive)
The European Union rapid reaction force (battlegroup) has lost a company! This is not a joke. This was done very discreetly... And for good reason. No one seems in a hurry to brag about it at the European and Ukrainian level. Because the situation is still a little confused.
Putin's fault!
The cause: the Russian intervention in Crimea. Qualified as " Illegal annexation according to the Europeans, of natural return in the Russian fold by Moscow, it resulted in a loss in the composition of the battlegoup. The marines Ukrainians who participated in the European battlegroup, led by Greece (Helbroc), disappeared in the "battle". The situation is particularly confused in Kyiv. But, in fact, it seems that some of these troops have now passed, with arms and baggage, to the Russian side, like the vast majority of Ukrainian forces based in Crimea (read on the Club: Defeat in Crimea. Ukrainian Defense Minister replaced).
Ukraine withdraws
Having put the question to the head of the EU military committee, General de Rousiers, he acknowledged this development. " Ukrainian Chief of Staff wrote that, given the circumstances, he was withdrawing his contribution from Ukraine to this battle group he said in response to a question from B2. In the same way, the European Union does not really count on the Ukrainians for another participation in the anti-piracy operation Eunavfor Atalanta, as envisaged for a moment. " We can understand that in such circumstances, they want to wait before going further in their cooperation explains the general. But this one is reassuring. " The EU battlegroup is still operational. The Greek Chief of Staff confirmed this to me. "In fact, it's Greece" as a framework nation, which has decided to increase its contribution” to fill the missing quota.
Comment: A first for a battlegroup condemned to stay at the quay
1° A first... This is the first time that a country has defected along the way. This will undoubtedly force us to look with a little more circumspection in the future at these external cooperations which do not only have advantages...
2° ... without concrete consequences. In any case, there was never any question of bringing in the European Union's rapid reaction force anywhere in the world. This is of course not the official version, it is European "RealPolitik". The usual political difficulties — the need for double unanimity (*) and the lack of enthusiasm of Europeans to use force — even within the framework of a peacekeeping mission authorized and requested by the UN (*) — , today there is a very concrete notion that nails the battle group ashore: the money! Budget restrictions and lack of European financial solidarity oblige, the "Helbroc" will remain at the dock. The great ambition of François Hollande, displayed at the December summit, has vanished... The arrival of the Belgians (with the Dutch, Germans and Luxembourgers) on the permanent tour could change this inventory. If the political situation changes...
3° If we were a little ironic (B2 rarely is ;-), we would push a little... the wheel of history... Now under the Russian flag, these marines could be very useful, in the Central African Republic for example. Putin could thus propose a contribution to EUFOR RCA (although Russia is one of the only countries not to have been approached by the Europeans). One more company would be very useful on the ground, as General Pontiès confided recently. Besides, there would be almost no need for a participation agreement. It would suffice in itself to reactivate the participation agreement signed with Russia... in 2008, in the midst of Georgia's intervention, for their participation in EUFOR Tchad RCA (***).
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(*) unanimity of the 27 to send the battlegroup and unanimity of the countries participating in the force
(**) Cf. Congo in 2008, Rep. Central African today
(***) The name being roughly the same as today, that's it. A legal trick that I borrow from EU lawyers who have played, quite finely moreover, this card to avoid signing a new SOFA (force protection agreement) with the government of the Rep. Central African Republic (RCA) on the EUFOR RCA 2014 operation, considering that the 2008 agreement was still... active! (power to the imagination !).
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