The new European Rapid Reaction Force got off to a good start yesterday at its pledging conference in Brussels, attracting more than the required number of troops and indicating that planning for its future is on schedule. European Union member-States have pledged to supply sufficient troops for a 60,000-strong force available for one year and backup troops to allow rotation. This formal commitment is an important moment for the European Union, allowing it to live up to its undertakings to bring security to the continent, especially to its south-eastern region.
The formula it has found to do so allows individual States to decide on a voluntary basis what they will contribute and whether and how they will participate in specific operations. This is why defence and foreign ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday were able to say with justification that this is not a standing European army, but a contingency force tailor-made for crisis-management, humanitarian, peace-enforcing and peace-keeping tasks. It will draw on military personnel training in other settings, mostly those associated with NATO. But a similar voluntary formula within that alliance has enabled its members to develop a far-reaching co-operation with former enemies and neutral States. The EU force will work closely with these new structures and aims not to duplicate their training and planning activities.
The Government makes a convincing case that the formula adopted does not abrogate Ireland's military neutrality, since alliance commitments are not involved. Ireland has pledged a light infantry battalion, a special service unit from the Army Rangers and a permanent group of liaison officers - 850 troops in all. The documents agreed yesterday underline the desirability of United Nations mandating for such operations. In Ireland's case there will be no participation without specific UN agreement. And the UN itself has made it clear that it will rely increasingly on regional organisations such as the EU or NATO to carry out its mandates. Opinion surveys have found consistently that solid majorities of Irish voters are willing to participate in such operations, but that they do not want to join a military alliance in which they would be more bound to them.
A secure, peaceful and prosperous Europe is centrally in Ireland's interest, especially as we have developed so much economically in recent years. It will not be possible to obtain the benefits expected from an enlarged EU if south-eastern Europe remains destabilised and incapable of recovering from the traumas caused by the break-up of former Yugoslavia. That is likely to be the main focus of the Rapid Reaction Force and its political apparatus in coming years. It was clear yesterday that there is still a long way to go before it will be self-sufficient in airlift and intelligence capabilities, making it necessary to rely on US resources.
This new force is part of a long-term process of equalisation between the EU and the US in many policy spheres. The Rapid Reaction Force will be controlled by a political and military structure to be endorsed by EU leaders in the months to come. There is understandable concern that its decision-making will be too secretive and not subject to sufficient democratic accountability. Such issues are likely to become more active as the force is put in place.