§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are to transform the informal meeting of EU defence ministers into a formal defence council meeting; and if he will make a statement. [29637]
§ Mr. HoonI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 22 January 2002,Official Report, column 736W. There are no plans to transform informal Defence Ministers' meetings into a formal council.
We expect informal meetings of EU Defence Ministers to continue, and the General Affairs Council provides a forum for formal decision-making as and when required.
§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the EU military exercise programme covering the period 2001 to 2006. [29634]
997W
§ Mr. HoonThe exercise programme is confined to political/military decision making procedures. There are no plans to hold separate EU field exercises.
European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) procedures will be exercised for the first time in May 2002. This exercise will test top level co-ordination and the decision-making procedures of the ESDP bodies, including the Political and Security Committee, the EU Military Committee and the EU Military Staff. In 2003 there are plans to hold another exercise at this higher strategic level with EU and NATO bodies, and a workshop to examine the role of deployable force headquarters at the operational level.
Beyond that, the EU envisages further exercises, expanded to include testing of the linkages and procedures between the higher strategic level structures and potential operational headquarters for EU-led operations, such as SHAPE or national headquarters like the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood. However, no detailed exercise planning beyond 2002 has been carried out.
EU troop exercises are unnecessary, as current programmes of national, NATO and bi or multi-lateral exercises are already sufficient to generate the capabilities that the EU is likely to require.