EU members urged to increase defence spend

CHAD: The general who chairs EU's military committee tells Jamie Smyth the Chad mission will end after one year

CHAD:The general who chairs EU's military committee tells Jamie Smyththe Chad mission will end after one year

THE EU'S most senior defence chief has said member states need to increase defence spending to avoid the type of problems encountered by the current EU force in Chad.

French general Henri Bentégeat, who chairs the EU's military committee, has also confirmed that the EUfor mission in Chad will come to an end after a single year.

"Member states accepted to commit their assets to this mission on the very basis that it should be a bridging mission for a one-year period and these states do not want to be cheated," said Mr Bentégeat, who visited Irish troops in Chad this week.

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The huge cost of maintaining an EU peacekeeping force in the central African state has caused many states to baulk at committing troops or equipment. Deployment of the 3,700 strong mission - including 450 Irish troops - was delayed for months as EU states wrangled over the provision of vital equipment and costs. Deployment is now expected to be complete in June, although some hardware is still lacking.

"We have enough capacity to act in the field, but we still miss some important enablers especially due to the oncoming rainy season in mid-June," said Gen Bentégeat, who highlights a shortage of tactical aircraft and helicopters.

The EU is negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to try to secure additional air power and it is hoped that a deal can be done by June. If these air assets are not forthcoming, the mission will not be able to patrol as effectively, admitted Gen Bentégeat.

Despite these problems, the general said, Irish troops on the ground in Goz Beida, Chad, had begun patrolling and were already reporting success and lower levels of violence. It is now essential that the European Commission deploy its humanitarian assistance and redevelopment personnel as soon as possible, he added.

He said the difficulties launching EUfor are not unique to the EU. Nato and the UN face similar problems launching multinational operations because of a shortage of vital equipment such as helicopters and an unwillingness to deploy them.

"It is very expensive to deploy and sustain them in operations, and financial solidarity in the EU, like Nato, is limited," he said. "We have the principle that costs lie where they fall (a state pays for its own forces on EU missions and Ireland's bill for Chad is about €55 million). So when a nation provides helicopters they must pay for it." The EU spends 1.78 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence compared to 3.7 per cent in the US. Ireland, which is increasingly providing troops for overseas missions, spends just 0.7 per cent. The European tradition of low defence spending is an inhibiting factor on the EU's ability to deploy peacekeepers, said Gen Bentégeat.

"If EU states don't increase their defence budgets they will face more and more difficulties to provide assets for operations . . . Only three countries in the EU spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence. Certainly there is a different culture.

"Probably it comes from the fact that public opinion doesn't feel the need for these peace support operations. They feel secure and think the missions aren't directly linked to their own security, which is, from my point of view, an error," he said.

Letting some parts of the world, particularly Africa fall into a permanent cycle of violence has consequences for Europeans, said Gen Bentégeat, who points to rising levels of illegal immigration, trafficking and criminality.

Two triggers could change the European political culture on defence: an imminent military threat and the growing trend towards more solidarity among EU states. "At some stage some EU states that are directly affected by consequences in Africa or the Middle East will ask for solidarity and the others will have to raise their capabilities," he said. "I think this is likely to happen. Solidarity is coming now."

But Gen Bentégeat is aware that political cultures take time to change, and defence remains a sensitive issue for many states, including Ireland and Germany.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy wants to review EU defence policy during his country's EU presidency. Ideas such as a permanent EU military headquarters or an EU chief of staff have been mooted by observers, but not confirmed by the French. "We cannot imagine this type of revolution. Member states are divided on this issue," said Gen Bentégeat.

Instead, the French want to add elements to the EU's security strategy completed in 2003. "This is a very good document from my point of view. What they want is to update it with some issues that are more political. It has to do mainly with how climate change and energy supply hold consequences for security."

Evolution rather than revolution is also how he assesses the changes contained in the Lisbon Treaty for EU defence.

"It will not bring fundamental change but it will change procedures and mechanisms because the new high representative has more authority on the civilian side of things . . . it should allow us to better co-ordinate missions like Chad between the military and civilian operations."

Could it lead to a militarisation of the union? "No, the risk is the other way. It could lead to a civilianisation of the military. We have 200 military personnel in the EU versus 30,000 civil servants . . . the real risk is that the military part gets diluted".