§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence which countries have agreed to contribute to the European Union Rapid Reaction Force; and what each nation will make available in terms of(a) personnel, (b) logistics, (c) ships, (d) aircraft, (e) artillery, (f) main battle tanks, (g) other armoured vehicles and (h) intelligence and surveillance capability. [101101]
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the UK units for tagged service within an EU framework, consequential to the Cologne Summit. [101104]
§ Mr. Hoon[holding answer 2 December 1999]: At the recent UK/French Summit, we called on EU member states to commit themselves to being able to undertake, co-operating together, crisis management operations up to Corps level. In particular, this will mean developing the capabilities of existing national forces, from which such a deployment could be drawn case-by-case for specific NATO or EU operations. We are not creating a standing European Rapid Reaction Force.
This proposal will be discussed by EU Heads of State and Government at the European Council in Helsinki on 10–11 December. EU member states have not identified any national contributions that might be made available for EU-led operations if they agree this aim.