§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with his US 181W counterpart regarding the European Union plans for undertaking the NATO operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. [101959]
§ Mr. IngramMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has had no discussions with his United States counterpart regarding the European Union plans for undertaking the NATO operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what recent discussions he has had with European defence ministers about measures to improve EU military capabilities; [101962]
(2) when he last discussed progress on the ESDP with the (a) French, (b) German and (c) Belgian defence ministers. [101961]
§ Mr. HoonI last discussed progress on ESDP(a) with my French counterpart at the Le Touquet summit on 4 February 2003, (b) with my German counterpart in Berlin on 5 November 2002, and (c) with my Belgian counterpart on 19 November 2002. I discussed European military capability improvements with other EU Defence Ministers at our informal meeting on 4–5 October 2002, and at the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on 19 November 2002. The subject was also discussed in the three bilateral meetings mentioned earlier, as well as meetings with my Italian and Greek counterparts on 21 January and 3 March 2003 respectively. We are working on remedying key European defence capability shortfalls under the European Capabilities Action Plan established last year.