Effective multilateralism has provided an active and topical agenda for Ireland's EU presidency during the last six months, which is amply reflected in the conclusions of yesterday's European Council.
The phrase comes from the European Security Strategy adopted at last December's summit, which stipulated that the United Nations should be at its core.
This gave an opportunity to combine Irish political priorities with EU ones when the UN was more and more anxious to benefit from EU initiatives on peacekeeping, peacemaking and crisis management issues.
The fruits of this activity are endorsed in the conclusions. They include detailed policy papers for the UN Secretary General's high level panel on threats, challenges and change in support of a strengthened UN; work undertaken to implement the EU-UN joint declaration on co-operation on crisis management of September last; and joint commitments made to effective multilateralism with the EU's regional partners such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, where the EU is to send its first rule of law mission under the European Security and Defence Policy. It anticipates future proposals on steps to promote a more rules-based international order. Other initiatives involved include work to develop EU policy towards conflict prevention and human rights and to develop basic principles on how sanctions can be used to implement such multilateral approaches.
The EU is shortly to take over the NATO mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In practice, the military and police resources being made available through new structures will be deployed within its immediate neighbourhood there and in Macedonia rather than much further afield. But policy is increasingly geared to UN peacekeeping work. These priorities are spelled out in a section devoted to how such capabilities are to be enhanced.
The EU has a "headline goal" of deploying 60,000 troops in military rapid response for crisis management tasks by 2010. The latest plan is to use multinational 1,500-strong "battle groups" for this task to be ready by 2007 and to maintain close contacts with the UN on this issue, which the summit endorsed.
The summit launched the EU's first military planning cell to co-ordinate such work. It will be based in Brussels and begin work by the end of the year. It will complement existing cells in NATO and co-ordinate with other operations centres.
The summit endorsed progress made during the Irish presidency on combating terrorism, both by taking steps on such issues as asylum, border protection and drug trafficking and by implementing the declaration on the subject adopted after the train bombs in Madrid on March 3rd last. These include work on the Schengen system of border controls, sharing intelligence between law enforcement agencies and protecting civilians and critical infrastructures.
Solidarity and international co-operation are integral to combating terrorism and addressing its root causes, the conclusions state. The subject will be to the foreground in relations with the US and in political dialogue with other third countries.
The summit pledged itself to continue the fight against weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. It endorsed a report on the implementation of an EU policy on proliferation and adopted a declaration on criminal sanctions in related materials.