EU may ditch unanimity to deploy rapid reaction forces

‘This more hostile security environment requires us to increase our capacity and willingness to act’

THE European Union may deploy a joint military force without the unanimous support of all member states.

Removing the need for unanimity would prevent a country blocking rapid reaction forces of 5,000 troops being sent to crisis situations independently of Washington and Nato.

The plans are laid out in a document called the “Strategic Compass”. The document is the closest thing the EU could have to a military doctrine and akin to NATO’S “Strategic Concept” that sets out alliance goals.

Josep Borrell, the EU’S foreign affairs chief, said: “To pretend to be just soft power, when everything is being weaponised, is certainly not enough.”

“Europe cannot afford to be a bystander in a world order that is mainly shaped by others,” a draft of the document obtained by The Telegraph said.

Mr Borrell told a group of European newspapers smaller groups of member states could take joint action and “we cannot decide by unanimity every step of the process”.

He said: “I am not asking for changing the rules and going to abolish the unanimity because I know that is not the best way of acting. Because to abandon your unanimity, it requires unanimity – and this is not going to happen. What I believe is that this institutional setting can be ‘flexibilised’ in order to act quicker and better.”

Removing unanimity will be resisted by member states wary of losing the political leverage of their veto and Eastern European countries, who fear a EU joint military force could undermine the military alliance.

One diplomat said the new force “will work with unanimity, as doing otherwise would be in contradiction to the treaties”.

“It’s legitimate to have a discussion about the desirability of unanimity in EU foreign policy but Strategic Compass is not the place to have that discussion,” the diplomat added.

An Eastern European diplomat told the Euractiv website “unanimity needs to remain the guiding principle”.

The EU has had battlegroups of 1,500 soldiers standing by since 2007 but they have never been used due to lack of political will and the need for unanimity. The draft plans suggest member states could abstain from military action to “enable willing and capable European-led coalitions”.

EU officials aim to set out how the bloc’s treaties would allow a smaller group of member states to plan a mission together by 2023. The EU Rapid Deployment Capacity will be able to “swiftly deploy a modular force of up to 5,000 troops, including land, air and maritime components”, the document said.

The EU would agree “operational scenarios in 2022” and “regular live exercises will improve readiness and interoperability” from 2023.