EU force attended by a culture of secrecy

The European Commission official was more amused than irritated when she arrived at her office one morning to find a sticker on the telephone urging her to "think confidential".

But when this was followed by instructions to lock her door when she left the room, hide her papers and take extreme care with photocopies, this servant of the European project realised that a big change was under way.

The new culture of secrecy in Brussels is one of the less attractive side-effects of the EU's determination to strengthen its foreign and security policy by creating a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force for peacekeeping, "peace-making" and humanitarian missions.

As EU foreign and defence ministers gathered in Brussels yesterday to pledge troops for the rapid reaction force, the European Parliament and three member-states were preparing a legal challenge to the new secrecy rules. The Dutch government is leading the fight to persuade the European Court of Justice to roll back measures they believe to be unnecessarily restrictive.

Under the "Solana rules", named after the EU foreign policy high representative, Mr Javier Solana, whole categories of documents relating to the EU's common security and defence policy can be branded "confidential", "secret" or "top secret".

Even if the Dutch initiative succeeds, however, Commission officials will have to continue "thinking confidential" and locking their office doors.

The creation of the rapid reaction force involves an intensification of the EU's relationship with NATO, and top brass at NATO headquarters in Brussels have warned the Commission that any leaks will stop the flow of sensitive information.

Although the EU and NATO are moving closer, the rapid reaction force has a very different purpose from the Western alliance. Unlike NATO, the EU force does not involve a mutual defence pact, and participation in each operation is voluntary.

There will be no European standing army, and the 850 Irish soldiers earmarked for the new force will carry out other duties unless they are needed for an EU operation. The Government insists there is no question of Irish personnel taking part in any operation that has not been blessed by a UN mandate. And Irish officials stress that any move to commit forces to an EU operation will remain a sovereign, national decision.

Some important issues remain to be resolved, however, regarding the precise nature of the new force's relationship with NATO. The French would like the military planning process to be autonomous and distinct from NATO, but most other memberstates argue that unnecessary duplication should be avoided at all costs.

Most EU member-states are also members of NATO, and many of the troops committed to the EU force are the same soldiers earmarked for NATO operations. Even if the EU decides to launch a military operation on its own, it will almost certainly need to borrow equipment from NATO.

Like the other EU neutrals, Ireland can sidestep the debate about NATO's role in the planning process because the NATOled Partnership for Peace provides an alternative planning structure.

But as the new force aims to be ready by 2003 - able to mobilise within two months and stay in an area of conflict for at least a year - Ireland will not be able to avoid spending more on defence.

At present, defence spending accounts for just 0.8 per cent of the annual budget, well below the EU average. Although increased tax receipts have seen the absolute spending figure rise in recent years, military chiefs believe there is no way of fulfilling our commitment without spending more.

Just 10 years after the collapse of communism promised a "peace dividend" in the form of lower defence spending, a number of EU member-states have already started increasing their military budgets. Nobody knows how much the rapid reaction force will cost to develop and administer, and this is one aspect of the endeavour that Europe's politicians and officials have been slow to address.

The force will undoubtedly enhance the EU's foreign policy profile but it is the second element of the new European "crisis management" strategy that is likely to have a bigger impact in the long run.

Along with the rapid reaction force, the EU plans to train 5,000 police officers, prosecutors and judges for "civil crisis management" in troubled areas. This will involve the establishment of civil society structures in regions such as the Balkans and will hasten the spread of European civic norms.

Happily for the French Presidency, which is struggling in advance of next month's Nice summit, civil crisis management is one issue they do not have to worry about. All major decisions have been postponed until next year, when the civic-minded, neutral Swedes assume the presidency.