§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) for what purposes beyond humanitarian relief, peacekeeping and crisis management British hardware and personnel committed to the European Rapid Reaction Force may be used; [89587]
(2) what the British (a) hardware and (b) personnel commitment is to the ERRF; and to what extent this has changed since November 2002; [89588]
(3) what British commitment he estimates will be required to meet goal shortfalls by fellow members of the ERRF in (a) its first year and (b) subsequent years. [89589]
§ Mr. HoonThere is no standing European Rapid Reaction Force. Under the European Security and Defence Policy, national forces will come together for specific, EU-led crisis management operations (the 'Petersberg tasks') where NATO as a whole is not engaged. These incorporate humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks, and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking.
We are not committing British forces to a standing structure—we and other member states are, on a voluntary basis, offering to make forces available to meet requirements identified in the Helsinki Headline Catalogue as necessary to enable the EU to undertake the full spectrum of Petersberg tasks. The potential British contribution could be up to 12.500 troops, 72 combat 703W aircraft and 18 warships, with a full range of supporting capabilities. At the Capabilities Improvement Conference in November 2001, along with other member states, the United Kingdom increased its potential contribution in areas where capability shortfalls were identified. There has been no change since then.
Headline Goal shortfalls are identified by comparing the combined total of forces offered by member states with the Headline Goal requirements and are therefore collective; it is not the case that the United Kingdom contribution is intended to meet the shortfalls of others. Implementing solutions to shortfalls is a matter for nations or groups of nations to undertake voluntarily.