HC Deb 16 February 2000 vol 344 cc554-5W
Mr. Colvin

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes in military structures are required in order to implement the common foreign and security policies agreed at the Helsinki European Council. [109956]

Mr. Hoon

At the Helsinki European Council, EU member states agreed:

  1. (a) to establish the new structures necessary for the EU to decide and, where NATO as a whole is not engaged, act in response to crises. These bodies will include a Military Committee and a Military Staff; and
  2. (b) to set up, from March 2000, the interim arrangements required for the EU to develop its military crisis management procedures, including an interim body of military representatives of member states' Chiefs of Defence.