Paris, 15 June, 2005.- The French and Dutch rejection of the European constitutional treaty makes it “all the more important to maintain” the WEU’s commitment to achieving its 2010 Headline Goal and to “carry forward the practical work on cooperation in European security and defence,” Defence Committee Chairman John Wilkinson (UK/Con) said Wednesday.
 
Speaking during his presentation of a report entitled ‘ESDP developments and the Headline Goal 2010 – reply to the annual report of the Council, which was adopted unanimously by the Assembly, Konstantinos Vrettos acknowledged that the ‘no’ votes constituted a “big obstacle” to implementing the goal, but said he was “a little optimistic” that it would be reached.
 
The aim of the Headline Goal 2010 is to upgrade EU responsiveness at times of crisis by ensuring that it is able to launch an operation within five days of approval by the EU Council. The deployment of forces to the theatre of operations should then take place within 10 days of that decision. 
Vrettos stressed the need for the EU to develop a European industrial policy and base if “we wish to create or maintain autonomous European defence capabilities. Only in that way will the European groups be able not only to compete with their American rivals, but also enter into alliances with them on an equal footing.”
 
The Assembly Defence Committee called for WEU members to “persevere with their efforts to give the ESDP the necessary structures and resources, in particular by incorporating a proper intelligence policy in the ESDP; introducing a minimum procedure for qualified majority voting in ESDP decision-making processes; developing the Civilian/Military Cell and putting in place a genuine multinational operations headquarters,” Vrettos said.
 
He noted that full operational capability of European battlegroups, where two simultaneous operations can be conducted, should be reached in 2007. About 20 EU countries have said they will participate, which means a total of 13 battlegroups. “But the groups will only be “genuinely operational” if adequate air and sea strategic transport capabilities are available, he warned. The report also urged the EU to provide the European Defence Agency with “the necessary personnel and funding as soon as possible,” to set up a “genuine permanent multinational operations headquarters to be used in connection with the ‘permanent structured cooperation’ within the EU,” and to maintain the mutual defence obligation in the modified Brussels Treaty pending agreement on other arrangements.