European Rapid Reaction Force

The European Union Rapid Reaction Force is a transnational military force managed by the European Union itself rather than any of its member states. Following the initial declaration in December 1999, the formal agreement founding the ERRF or EURRF was reached on November 22, 2004 and according to statements made by EU officials the first ERRF units will be deployable by 2005. The aim is to have 60,000 soldiers available, deployable for at least a year.

The ERRF is not a standing army (units will remain with their national armies when not deployed or on exercise), and national governments will retain the power to decide if their forces will take part in any particular operation. As a result the units may in practice be considered "virtual units" ready for rapid redeployment, rather than part of the ERRF.

The Petersberg tasks, which outline the duties of the ERRF, have been expanded from humanitarian, rescue, and peacekeeping and peacemaking to include 'joint disarmament operation', 'military advice and assistance tasks' and 'post-conflict stabilisation'. It also states that, “all these tasks may contribute to the fight against terrorism, including by supporting third countries in combating terrorism in their terror ties.”

Contents

Organisation

Each unit will be composed of some 1500 troops - quite like a regiment-size force. Also known as packets of force these units are believed to be the most flexible and efficient foundation upon which to base the ERRF. Contributions are expected from EU countries, mostly Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In the future, Poland might form its own unit. The remaining 19 present EU countries will contribute troops and may form multi-national units with a few hundred troops from three or four different countries. Typical examples of such a unit would be a Scandinavian Unit with Danish, Swedish and Finnish troops or a Benelux Unit with Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourgian contributions.

Recent Past

While the ERRF has recently been created, it already completed its first mission (as per the December 1999 declaration of intent by EU members), known as "Operation Concordia". During the operation, European troops watched over growing civil unrest in Macedonia due to ethnic tensions between the Macedon majority and Albanian minority in the east of the country. These tensions have abated since the approval by the Macedonian Parliament of a set of legislative measures recognising the rights of the Albanian minority. In a sense the stirrings of nationalism in the Albanian community was a direct result of the 1999 Kosovo War and the subsequent quasi-independence enjoyed by Kosovar Albanians. The EURRF is acknowledged to have completed its mission successfully and a smaller follow-up mission which comprises of assisting and training Macedonian police has recently begun.

The deployment to Macedonia, which has so far involved some 400-800 troops, provides a concrete example of the 1500-strong unit system.

Complement

In all, there is talk of a total 60-80,000 troops being involved, and the support system behind any 1500-member unit would be considerable. As yet there are no firm numbers of air or naval forces to be involved, but these will be part of the EURRF as the need arises.

EU members have already selected troops for taking part in EURRF operations. Despite being at the orders of the EU, the EURRF would contain national forces who could only obey 'European' orders through explicit consent of 'national' military commanders, quite in the same way as the "double command" of the UNPROFOR.

The main raison d'ętre of the EURRF is to carry out peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks which European troops have shown themselves to be excellently trained at, most recently in Iraq, where British, Italian, Polish and Spanish troops have had the most success in bringing rest in their respective areas.

Relationship with NATO

Depending on opinions, NATO can be seen as occupying the "ecological niche" of the ERRF. The USA seems to favour a stronger NATO, where European countries would increase their defence spending, allowing European countries to strengthen their forces thereby becoming less reliant on US forces. This is backed by US proposals to withdraw tens of thousands of US troops from bases in Germany, Britain and Italy.

A consequence of this would be the freeing up US troops for offensive (possibly unilateral) operations, while, at the same time, deployment of the new European forces in projection operations would be conditional to US approval - a situation not well-perceived in most European capitals.

To illustrate, selective use of NATO depending on the national interest of the US has been seen in the past. For instance, as well as the decision to ignore NATO's invocation of Article 4 following the September 11, 2001 attacks - NATO troops featured minimally in Afghanistan (the Pentagon wanted complete control in conducting the war on its own terms) and were completely absent from the 2003 Iraq War.

In the context of European construction and of the George W. Bush administration, Europe tends to decrease its dependence on military and political support of the USA. From a neutral perspective, this is a positive change, as Americans were, until now, expected to provide for more than their fair share of the cost of securing Europe. Similarly, Europe must now rise to the challenge of providing for its own security. It is undisputed that it was a shameful failure of European governments to act against genocide in their own backyard in the Yugoslav Civil War, as well as the Kosovo Crisis of just a few years later. These conflicts and their revealing of European dependence on American military muscle has made the case for ERRF stronger than ever.

Possible Missions

While it is still unclear whether or not the ERRF would be deployed beyond European boundaries, the possible future tasks of the embryonic organisation are quite visible:

Bosnia

The ERRF might be called upon to take over from the UN-mandated NATO force, SFOR. With experience gained in Macedonia and the fact that the troops returning to Bosnia would be the same, minus the US forces, leaves us with hope that the Europeans can make the stability of this new country a given.

Kosovo

This troubled province will soon return to dominate international headlines as its final status comes to be determined. Serbia might come to a perilous turmoil over the final status should it include an independent Kosovo, which might lead to a crisis. The role of the EU in such an occurrence would be significant.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The current mission under ERRF aegis will probably continue for a long while, and may be renewed a number of times.

Cyprus

A major source of embarrassment, the EU has as one of its members a nation which requires UN troops to maintain the peace. The continued presence of Turkish troops in Northern Cyprus and the failed UN attempt at the reunification of Cyprus in early 2004 prevented the northern Turkish Army-occupied third of the Mediterranean island from joining the EU. As a prospective member, Turkey and already-member Greece will certainly butt heads over this contentious issue in the near future (as they have for the past three decades). ERRF involvement is possible, but unlikely if Turkey overly protests.

Eastern Europe

The ERRF could be called upon to maintain public order should an European country experience turbulent times. As recently as 1991 and 1997, Italy led its own military mission to alleviate the sufferings of the Albanian people and prevent the collapse of the small country's government — a similar future danger may very well be dealt with on the European level. Other prospective candidates are Moldova, where ethnic divisions see the conflicting interests of Russia, Ukraine, and Romania brewing up trouble for the future. Ukraine itself is currently at a cross-roads in its history and may require some kind of assistance in the near future if events precipitate into a state of civil disorder. Things are not well in the totalitarian state of Belarus and the withdrawal of Russian support, or a sudden vacuum of power, could prove disastrous to the population. Further trouble in Yugoslavia may come to a fore, especially as Montenegro's relationship to Serbia becomes ever more strained.

Overseas

The ERRF may be tasked international missions as well as European ones. Indeed, European governments may choose to deploy troops to any one of a number of conflicts in Africa upon the request of the UN and concern from the international community (typically France, for this sort of task). Undoubtedly, this would serve as a show of strength and ability as much as to the European population as the US government. If, however, the ERRF is overwhelmed with European tasks, it might choose to keep a low profile beyond its own borders.

Political consequences in Europe

The ERRF's primary tasking would be that of peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance, but may very well feature the use of force as an offensive tool in UN operations against brutal regimes - given sufficient building up of confidence in European capitals. While the ERRF is a body of the EU, it will in practice do the bidding of the major nations states (who will contribute most of the troops and funding): Britain, France and Germany. Only a determined and unanimous coalition of smaller European countries could succeed in mobilising the ERRF against the wishes of these three heavy-weights. The ERRF will also serve as tangible evidence of the political weight of the EU, in combination to its economic weight - and will most certainly illustrate the European construction .

The ERRF might contribute to forging a common European identity: some go as far as to say it might foster the notion among Europeans of 'our boys' fighting 'over there'. The symbolism of a common European badge will play well amongst certain circles in Europe and probably will be a boon to pro-Europeans generally. Having said this, if a divisive war on the model of the 2003 Iraq War were to arise again, it is probable that the EURRF would not be mentioned.

It is almost certain that the EU body with the greatest voice over the ERRF will be the European Council. The European Council is composed of the nation-states that will individually contribute to the ERRF, and so will expect to have control over its use; despite having 25 (27 in 2007) members perhaps, 5-6 will have the greatest influence in promoting or blocking any proposed ERRF action: Britain, France, Germany, Italy and possibly Spain and Poland. Should there be a foreign policy dispute between these Big Six, if sufficient support persists among the rest of the EU members, then an opt-out for the dissenting countries will probably apply, but great attempts will be made to prevent any public war of words between the major players.


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