§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence following the decisions made at the Helsinki European Council relating to a Common Defence and Security capability of the European Union, which tasks within the remit of armed forces acting on the authority of the Council are additional to those capable of being conducted by agreement of all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; and who is responsible for liaison between the Political and Military Committee of the European Council and the decision-making authority of NATO. [118866]
§ Mr. HoonAt Helsinki, EU member states made a commitment to be able, by 2003, to deploy rapidly and sustain up to 60,000 troops capable of undertaking the full range of Petersberg tasks. The Petersberg tasks are defined as humanitarian intervention, rescue operations, peacekeeping, and crisis management (including peacemaking). NATO is capable of conducting all of these tasks.
The mechanisms for liaison between the EU Political and Security Committee and the NATO North Atlantic Council are being developed in accordance with the conclusions of the Helsinki European Council and the NATO Washington Summit.