Defence Policy Directors meet in Brussels
A meeting of Defence Policy Directors of the EU Defence Ministries took place in Brussels on 27 and 28 April 2009. It was chaired by the Director of Defence Policy and Strategy Division of the Czech Ministry of Defence, Ivan Dvořák, on behalf of the Czech Presidency.
The meeting, which brought together representatives of all EU Member States, was also attended by Director for Defence Affairs of the General Secretariat of the EU Council Claude-France Arnould, Director General of the EU Military Staff Lieutenant General David Leakey, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency Alexander Weis and European Commission representative Lars-Gunnar Wigemark. The Assistant to the NATO Secretary General, Jiří Šedivý, was also present since one of the themes was the cooperation between the EU and NATO.
The meeting centred on the preparation of the programme of all the four parts of the formal meeting of the EU Defence Ministers, to be held on 18 May 2009 in Brussels - i.e. a meeting of the Steering Board of the European Defence Agency at the level of Defence Ministers, a separate meeting of Defence Ministers, a joint meeting with Foreign Ministers and a working lunch of Defence Ministers.
During the meeting, the Defence Policy Directors addressed issues related to all the priority areas of the Czech Presidency in the context of the European Security and Defence Policy – i.e. EU military operations, the development of military capabilities and the relations with strategic partners.
The principal item on the agenda of the first day of the meeting was the current state and further development of EU military operations - ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ATALANTA, the first EU naval operation, which is aimed at fighting piracy in the waters off the coast of Somalia, and the assessment of the EUFOR TCHAD/RCA operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, where the EU transferred command to the UN as of 15 March 2009 (MINURCAT II).
The Defence Policy Directors also discussed the development of EU military capabilities. In this area, the Czech Presidency focuses mainly on the issue of helicopter availability for operations. This topic was addressed at an international seminar organised by the Czech Presidency in Prague in February, which centred on the possibilities of multinational cooperation in meeting the transport helicopter capacity requirements for EU and NATO operations. As for the development of military capabilities, the meeting also focused on the continuation of projects and programmes launched under the French Presidency.
One of these is the exchange scheme for military education, which is modelled on the ERASMUS programme and is one of the priorities developed during the Czech Presidency. At the international seminar on the “Military ERASMUS, held in Brno last week, the Czech Presidency presented a proposal to set up a working body that would analyse the existing EU student exchange programmes (ERASMUS, LEONARDO DA VINCI, GRUNDVIK) and look for ways to use these programmes for further development of academic education in the field of defence. “I am happy that we have reached the first tangible results as regards the needs of military education”, said Chairman Ivan Dvořák in this context.
At the end of the meeting, the Defence Policy Directors addressed the cooperation between the EU and its strategic partners, NATO, the UN and the African Union.
Contact:
- Vladimír Lukovský, press and information service of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic
- tel.: +420 973 200 153, mobile: +420 724 006 780; e-mail: lukovskv@army.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:39
