Ireland’s neutrality helped it to win the European Union’s most senior military role, according to Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieut Gen Seán Clancy.
A former Air Corps pilot from Co Cork, Lieut Gen Clancy beat senior military officers from Poland and Slovenia in a secret vote on Wednesday and will take up his position as chair of the EU military committee next May.
At that point, he will be promoted to a four-star general, becoming the first Irish officer to hold the rank, and will step down from his position leading the Defence Forces.
As well as chairing the military committee, Lieut Gen Clancy will serve as the senior military adviser to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR), a position currently held by Josep Borrell.
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Speaking in Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin on Thursday, he said Ireland’s military neutrality was appreciated by the other members of the committee. “Otherwise, if they had different views, I would not have been elected.”
He said neutrality and the fact Ireland is not a Nato member will be an advantage during this three-year term as committee chair. Being outside Nato gives Ireland a “transparency and objectivity” and will help the chair achieve a consensus among the members of the committee, which is made up of the senior military officer from each member state, Lieut Gen Clancy said.
“The fact that Ireland is not a Nato member, some have looked at that as a negative. I look at as an opportunity and as a positive.”
Lieut Gen Clancy will take up the role at a time of growing concern within the EU about a belligerent Russia and an ongoing debate among member states about how to respond.
Some countries favour much closer military co-operation at the EU level and stress the need to build up the EU’s defence industry, while others, including Ireland, favour a more cautious approach.
Lieut Gen Clancy said given events in the last two years, it is hard to predict what the situation in Europe will be in a year’s time when he takes up the role but that the “risks and threats to all of us in Europe and to our neighbours are very clear”.
He said his appointment to the role is a vote of confidence in Ireland and its contributions to Europe. The role will be “at the strategic political level”, he said.
[ Head of Defence Forces elected first Irish chair of EU’s highest military bodyOpens in new window ]
Lieut Gen Clancy will be based permanently in Brussels during the three year term after which he will retire on a four-star general’s pension. He will have a team of between eight and 10 Defence Forces personnel to assist him.
He will continue to serve as Defence Forces Chief of Staff for the next year during which his “commitment, energy, and focus” will remain on transforming the organisation by stabilising and then increasing its strength and implementing the recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces, he said.
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