Paris; 7 December – According to a speech delivered to the WEU Assembly on 7 December on behalf of the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Jack Straw, by the British Ambassador to France, Sir John Holmes, the United Kingdom WEU/EU Presidency has fulfilled its pledge to make the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) "more capable, more coherent, and operationally more active".
 
"It is only through action that member states can build their own confidence and that of the international community in the ESDP's effectiveness," Sir John said. Detailing developments since the UK took over the presidency last July, he said the list of objectives was ambitious; but that he believed excellent progress had been made. “We have met many of our goals", he affirmed.
 
The EU now had more than 12 ESDP missions underway or about to be launched, seven of which had been launched or prepared since the UK took over. "We have also widened both the geographical reach of ESDP and the type of mission it can undertake;" he said. "We are now proving on the ground that the EU is uniquely well placed to provide assistance in situations across the conflict cycle, from peacekeeping, to border monitoring and assistance, to security sector reform."
 
Giving a rundown on current missions, Sir John mentioned the EUPM and Proxima policing missions in Bosnia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; the EUPOL and EUSEC missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the AMIS mission in the Darfur region of Sudan and the EU's first venture in Asia, the Aceh Monitoring Mission in Indonesia. He also said the operational phase of the Integrated Rule of Law Mission for Iraq –EUJUST LEX – had begun and that a Border Assistance Mission at the Rafah crossing point on the Gaza-Egypt border was put in place on 25 November, having been set up within just a month. The EU Coordinating Office for Palestinian Policy Support – EUPOL COPPS – was scheduled to start on 1 January 2006. Another Border Assistance Mission for Moldova and Ukraine had been launched the previous week to help combat arms smuggling, organised crime and corruption.
 
Under the UK Presidency, the European Defence Agency had made good progress in regard to the European Defence Equipment Market and a voluntary Code of Conduct on Defence Procurement had been agreed for those procurements currently exempt from EU competition law on national security grounds. Work had also been taken forward on the battlegroups initiative and 19 battlegroups involving 26 nations had now been committed. The recent commitment from Greece; Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus meant that the goal of full operational capability from 2007 of two battlegroups, available at very high readiness at any one time, would be met. Further inroads had also been made in pinpointing shortfalls in civilian crisis management capabilities; while the agreement of a concept for Civilian Response Teams and a strategy for the rapid deployment of police meant an improvement in the rapid reaction capability of civilian ESDP. "The EU can add real value to the security challenges of the 21st century; (…) but to achieve this, coherence and complementarity between all the civilian and military tools is vital."
 
Close coordination was needed between the EU and other international organisations, such as NATO and the United Nations, Sir John said. This had functioned well in the exchange of information among those three organisations to ensure the effectively targeted delivery of relief supplies to Pakistan after its recent earthquake. Closer partnerships with the African Union and sub-regional organisations were also needed to assist them build their own crisis management capacities. There was also a need to ensure that ESDP actions were “coherent with the wider EU Strategy for Africa” to be launched at the forthcoming European summit on 15 and 16 December.
 
In Sir John’s view, the EU had demonstrated over the past six months that it could "respond quickly, meet high political expectations and manage the risks associated with more complex security environments". The Rafah and Aceh missions in particular showed “how far we have come with ESDP” and that the EU was now considered by the broader international community as a “key organisation for supporting efforts to improve peace and security around the world".
 
For the future, he said, the EU must continue to develop its capabilities, a process which was "not just about spending more money, but spending more efficiently”. European nations could make significant improvements by focusing on developing armed forces and civilian capabilities that were more readily deployable, flexible and sustainable. Work towards the 2010 Headline Goal would continue to identify “already-known capability shortfalls, such as strategic airlift, air-to-air refuelling assets, command and control arrangements and unmanned aerial vehicles”.
 
Turning to the WEU Assembly, he stressed that it remained a unique forum that facilitated interparliamentary dialogue and discussion of the issues. “The Assembly is inclusive” he said, “and reaches beyond the boundaries of the EU, genuinely enriching pan-European debate on security and defence. It continues to offer a valuable contribution and; through national parliamentarians, an important link between EU citizens and governments in security and defence."