'
European Union battlegroups' (EU BGs) are military forces of 1500 combat soldiers under the control of the
European Union. There are currently fifteen, mostly multi-national groups who rotate activity so that two are ready for deployment at any one time.
The battlegroups reached full operational capacity on
1 January 2007. They are based on existing ''ad hoc'' missions that the Union has undertaken and has been described by some as a new "standing army" for Europe.
[1] In 2004,
Kofi Annan welcomed the plans and emphasised the value and importance of the battlegroups in helping the UN deal with troublespots.
[2]
Background
The initial ideas for the Battle Groups began at the
European Council summit on 10-11
December 1999 in
Helsinki. The Council produced the Headline Goal 2003 and specified the need for a rapid response capability that
members should provide in small forces at high readiness. The idea was reiterated at a
Franco-
British summit on
4 February 2003 in
Le Touquet which highlighted as a priority the need to improve rapid response capabilities, "including the initial deployment of land, sea and air forces within 5-10 days." This was again described as essential in the "Headline Goal 2010".
Operation Artemis in
2003 showed an EU rapid reaction and deployment of forces in a short time scale - with the EU going from ''Crisis Management Concept'' to operation launch in just three weeks, then taking a further 20 days for substantial deployment. Its success provided a template for the future rapid response deployments allowing the idea to be considered more practically. The following Franco-British summit in November of that year stated that, building on the experience of the operation, the EU should be able and willing to deploy forces within 15 days in response to a
UN request. It called specifically for "battlegroup sized forces of around 1500 land forces, personnel, offered by a single nation or through a multinational or framework nation force package.
On
10 February 2004, France,
Germany and the United Kingdom released a paper outlining the "Battlegroup Concept". The document proposed a number of groups based on Artemis that would be autonomous, consisting of 1500 personnel and deployable within 15 days. These would be principally in response to UN requests at short notice and can be rapidly tailored to specific missions. They would concentrate on bridging operations, preparing the group before a larger force relieved them, for example UN or regional peacekeepers under UN mandate. The plan was approved by all groups in
2004 and in November that year the first thirteen battlegroups were pledged with associated niche capabilities.
[3]
Tasks
The groups are intended to be deployed on the ground within 5-10 days of approval from the Council. It must be sustainable for at least 30 days, which could be extended to 120 days, if resupplied.
[4]
The Battlegroups are designed to deal with a those tasks faced by the ESDP, namely the
Petersberg tasks and the tasks from the European Security Strategy: Humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping, tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking (the Petersburg tasks), joint disarmament operations, support for 3rd countries in combating terrorism, security sector reform operations as part of broader institution building (the European Security Strategy tasks).
Planners claim the battlegroups have enough range to deal with all those tasks, although such tasks ought to be limited in "size and intensity" due to the small nature of the groups. Such missions may include conflict prevention, evacuation, aid deliverance or initial stabilisation. In general these would fall into three categories; brief support of existing troops, rapid deployment preparing the ground for larger forces or small scale rapid response missions.
[5]
Structure
A
battlegroup is considered to be the smallest self-sufficient military unit that can be deployed and sustained in a
theatre of operation. EU Battlegroups are composed of approximately 1500 troops; plus command and support services.
There is no fixed structure, a 'standard' group would include a headquarters company, three infantry companies and corresponding support personnel. Specific units might include mechanised infantry, support groups (e.g. fire or medial support), the combination of which allows independent action by the group on a variety of tasks. The main forces, extra support and "force headquarters" (front line command) are contained within the battlegroup "package", in addition there is the
operation headquarters, located in Europe.
[6]
Contributions
Larger member states will generally contribute their own battlegroups, while smaller members are expected to create common groups. Each group will have a 'lead nation' or 'framework nation' which will take operational command, based on the model set up during the EU's peacekeeping mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (
Operation Artemis). Each group will also be associated with a headquarters. Two non-EU NATO countries,
Norway and
Turkey, participate in a group each.
The initial thirteen battlegroups
[4] were proposed on
22 November 2005, further groups have joined them. The declared groups are as follows:
| 'Battlegroup' | 'Leading Nation
★ ' | 'Other Nations' |
| Inital Groups |
| French Battlegroup | France | single-nation |
| Italian Battlegroup | Italy | single-nation |
| Spanish Battlegroup | Spain | single-nation |
| British Battlegroup | United Kingdom | single-nation |
| French - German based Battlegroup | France | Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain |
| French - Belgian Battlegroup | France | Belgium |
| Battlegroup 107[8] | Germany | Netherlands and Finland |
| German - Czech - Austrian Battlegroup | Germany | Czech Republic and Austria |
| Italian - Hungarian - Slovenian Battlegroup | Italy | Hungary, Slovenia |
| Spanish Italian Amphibious Battlegroup | Italy | Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal |
| Polish-led Battlegroup | Poland | Germany, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania |
| Nordic Battle Group | Sweden | Finland, Estonia, Ireland and Norway[9][10] |
| UK - Dutch Battlegroup | United Kingdom | Netherlands |
| Further Groups | ||
| HELBROC (Balkan) Battlegroup | Greece | Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania[11] |
| Czech - Slovak Battlegroup | Czech Republic | Slovakia[12] |
| Spanish-led Battlegroup[13] | Spain | Germany, France and Portugal |
| Italian - Romanian - Turkish Battlegroup[13] | Italy | Romania and Turkey |
| Swedish Battlegroup[13] | Sweden | single-nation |
★ =Usually, not always permanent, depends on deployment.
The
Visegrád Group (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) are considering a joint battlegroup as of April 2007
[16]. There are plans to extend the concept to air and naval forces, although not to the extent of having a single standing force on standby, but scattered forces which could be rapidly assembled.
[17]
Denmark has an opt-out clause in its accession treaty and is not obliged to participate in the common
defence policy. Also
Malta currently does not participate in any battlegroup.
Niche capabilities
The following Member States have also offered niche capabilities in support of the EU Battlegroups
[18]:
★
Cyprus (medical group)
★
Lithuania (a water purification unit)
★
Greece (the Athens Sealift Co-ordination Centre)
★
France (structure of a multinational and deployable Force Headquarters)
Further details on specific contributions
★
Sweden and
Finland announced the creation of a joint
Nordic Battle Group. To make up the required 1500 number, they also urged
Norway to contribute in the battlegroup despite the country not being part of the EU. Recently, the number has been raised to 2400 troops with Sweden providing 2000 of these.
[19]
★
Finland is expected to commit troops trained to combat
chemical and
biological weapons, among other units such as a
mortar company.
★
Lithuania is expected to offer experts in water purification.
★
Greece is pledging troops with maritime transport skills.
The battlegroups project is not to be confused with the
European Rapid Reaction Force which concerns up to 60,000 soldiers, deployable for at least a year, and take one to two months to deploy. The battlegroups are instead meant for more rapid and shorter deployment in international crises, probably preparing the ground for a larger and more traditional force to replace them in due time.
Standby roster
From 1 January 2005 the battlegroups reached initial operational capacity: at least one battlegroup was on standby every 6 months. The United Kingdom and France each had an operational battlegroup for the first half of 2005, and Italy for the second half. In the first half of 2006, a Franco-German battlegroup operated, and the
Spanish Italian Amphibious Battlegroup. In the second half of that year just one battlegroup operated composed of France, Germany and Belgium.
[20]
Full operational capacity was reached on 1 January 2007, meaning the Union could undertake two battlegroup sized operations concurrently, or deploy them simultaneously into the same field. The battlegroups rotate every 6 months, the roster from 2007 onwards is as follows
[13];
References
1. New force behind EU foreign policy BBC News - 15 March 2007
2. Value of EU 'battlegroup' plan stressed by Annan forumoneurope.ie 15/10/04
3. (all Background) Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007; p.9-12
4. EU Battlegroups factsheet consilium.europa.eu November 2006
5. (all Tasks) Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007; p.17-19
6. (all Structure) Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007
7. EU Battlegroups factsheet consilium.europa.eu November 2006
8. Finns taking part in exercise for tri-nation EU battle group in Germany hs.fi 04/06/07
9. Nordic Battle Group - svenskledd styrka till EU:s snabbinsatsförmåga
10. The EU Battlegroup Concept and the Nordic Battlegroup Government office of Sweden
11. Greece prepares military exercise with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania
12. Czechs, Slovaks start preparing joint military unit
13. Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007, p.88
14. Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007, p.88
15. Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007, p.88
16. Joint Communiqué of the Ministers of Defence of the Visegrad Group Countries, Bratislava, 12 April 2007 visegradgroup.eu 12/04/07
17. EU To Include Air, Naval Forces in Battlegroup Concept defensenews.com 19/03/07
18. EU Battlegroups - Annex A: Battlegroup Concept
19. Inauguration of the Nordic Battle Group Headquarters Ulf K. Rask
20. The EU Battlegroups: p8 europarl.europa.eu
21. Enter the EU Battlegroups ISS; Chaillot Paper no.97; Feb 2007, p.88
External links
★
Article: EU Battle Groups 2007 – where next
★
Article: EU-Battlegroups - Stand und Probleme der Umsetzung in Deutschland und für die EU
★
EU factsheet on Battlegroups
★
EU Battlegroups
★
Inauguration of the Nordic Battle Group Headquarters HQ NBG
★
Headline Goal 2010
★
The presentation of the Eurocorps-Foreign Legion concept + EU battle groups at the European parliament in June 2003
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