Observatory on European defence, October 2005

3 October 2005
EU General Affairs and External Relations Council - ESDP Missions
The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) of 3 October and subsequently, the EU Defence Ministers on 13 October, reviewed the ESDP missions under way: 

• Balkans: military and police missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUFOR/ALTHEA and EUPM), police mission in Macedonia-FYROM (EUPOL PROXIMA). 
• Africa: police mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (EUPOL Kinshasa), and the EU mission to provide advice and assistance for security sector reform in the DRC (EUSEC RDC), support to the African Union mission AMIS II in Darfur (Sudan). On 30 September NATO extended, until 31 March 2006, the operations in Darfur supporting the abovementioned mission. 
• Iraq: integrated Rule of Law mission (EUJUST LEX). The EU contributed 20 million euros for organizing the 15 November referendum for approval of the new Constitution, thus representing the main contributor to the Iraqi political process thanks to a total allocation of about 80 million euros for 2005. 
• Indonesia: the GAERC adopted a decision to conclude agreements with the Indonesian authorities on tasks and status of the 227 civil experts of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), responsible for monitoring the peace agreements between the government and the separatist guerrillas. The mission takes place from 15 September 2005 to 15 March 2006 in cooperation with some States of the region. 
• Moldavia-Ukraine: upon the request of the concerned governments, the launch of an EU control mission at the borders between the two countries, in particular in the Transnistrian region, was decided in September. The mission will last 2 years from 1 January 2005 and will involve about 65 observers and trainers for the local authorities (budget about 7 million euros). 
• Middle East: police mission (EUPOL COPPS) to support the Palestinian police; the EU will send about 30 experts from 1 January 2006, for 3 years (budget for the first year about 6 million euros). The launch was confirmed by the decision of the EU Political and Security Committee (COPS) of 25 October, and is waiting for adoption by the GAERC on 7 November.

13 October 2005
EU Defence Ministers, European Defence Agency - ESDP Capabilities, European Defence Market
On 13 October the EU Defence Ministers met at an informal meeting on ESDP, held in the United Kingdom. 
The need was confirmed to increase and make the spending on equipment, research and technology (R&T) more efficient, to develop more cooperation among member States. Alongside the meeting, the Steering Board of the European Defence Agency (EDA) met and reviewed the Agency's work programme for 2006 and urged specific projects for collaboration. 
Ministers discussed the principles of a voluntary Code of Conduct encouraging greater integration and competitiveness of the European Defence Market. The Code, which should be formally adopted by the Steering Board in November, was established in the process lunched by the Green Paper on defence procurement submitted by the European Commission in September 2004.

October 2005
EU, Justice and Home Affairs - Laws to counter International Terrorism
On 6 October a meeting devoted to extending transatlantic judicial cooperation between the EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Frattini and the US Attorney General Gonzales and the Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security Chertoff, was held to counter international terrorism and organised crime. 
Concerning counter-terrorism measures, the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council of 12 October discussed the issue of retention of telecommunications data. Debate centred on the proposal for the directive submitted by the European Commission on 21 September. The questions of the length and cost of data retention, as well as access to information and the scope of regulations will have to be solved for the text to be finalised, as scheduled at the end of 2005. The legal basis will be the co-decision mechanism involving the European Parliament in the first pillar domain. 
Should the negotiations fail, the EU Presidency does not exclude recouping the framework-decision submitted by France, United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden in April 2004 in the third pillar - intergovernmental - domain. Moreover the European Commission submitted to the JHA Council a proposal for a framework-decision on telecommunications data protection for police and judicial cooperation for penal issues under the third pillar. 
Finally, the JHA Council adopted conclusions on the elaboration of a common model for information exchange between EU countries and EUROPOL to which it will contribute, as of 1 January 2006, with its new Organised Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA). As of10 October, the EUROPOL Information system (EIS) will be accessible by authorities of the 25 EU member States.

October 2005
EU - Non Proliferation, Iran
On the occasion of the EU General Affairs and External Relation Council (GAERC) of 3 October, the Ministers once again called upon Iran to make its nuclear activities compliant with the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to confirm its willingness to resume negotiations with the EU-3 (France, Germany, United Kingdom and Solana) in the framework of the Paris agreement of November 2004 (in spite of Iran's rejection, in August, of the European set of proposals and the subsequent resumption of Iran's enrichment activities). 
However, the positions towards Iran of France, United Kingdom and United States hardened during the month because it failed to renounce such activities. Finally, during an informal meeting held on 27 October, the EU Heads of State and Government condemned, like much of the international community, the words of Iranian President Ahmadinejad against the existence of the State of Israel.

October 2005
EU, NATO - Humanitarian intervention in Pakistan
EU and NATO sent aid to Pakistan following the earthquake which hit the northern part of the country (Kashmir) on 8 October. 
The European Commission contributed with emergency aid amounting to about 13.6 million euros (and proposed, on 24 October, a further 80) in addition to 60 million euros allocated by member States through operational contributions (rescue units, medical teams) coordinated by the control and information centre for the Civil Protection of the European Commission's DG Environment.
NATO set up an air-bridge to transport equipment and staff, coordinating the response of the Allies through its Shape Air Movement Coordination Centre and Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (Eedrcc). 
On 21 October, NATO ordered Allies having forces assigned to the NATO Response Force (NRF) to deploy some of their components (rescue helicopters, field hospitals, ecc…). The first element of the NRF - a Deployable Joint Task Force Headquarters (tactical) - reached Islamabad on 24 October and full deployment, gradually completed during the month, will remain active at least until the end of January 2006.