§ Lord Vivianasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which countries have agreed to contribute to the European Defence Force; and which armed forces they have designated. [HL12]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)Countries are not allocating forces to a European Defence Force.
The EU, with the assistance of NATO, has identified the required pool of forces and capabilities to carry out the full range of Petersberg tasks. EU member states have nominated those elements of their own national forces they believe could contribute to this requirement and have committed themselves to make further improvements to meet a defined level of capability (the "Headline Goal") by 2003. In addition, non EU European states have made supplementary offers.
It is not appropriate for the UK to disclose the offers of other nations. The assembled information on nations' offers is classified as confidential.
The following countries have identified relevant deployable military forces and capabilities:
Austria, Belgium. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Norway.