But it all began much earlier. The EU’s common foreign and security policy stemmed from the Maastricht Treaty which came into force in 1993. But the war in Bosnia and Kosovo quickly made it clear the EU did not have the capability to manage crises in its own back yard. It would be necessary to create a separate capability for military crisis management.
Common security policy
Out of that situation emerged the EU’s common security and defence policy. This has been developed as a tool to enable the EU to handle crises more effectively. It covers humanitarian and rescue tasks as well as peace-keeping and the tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peace-making.
From the beginning it was envisaged that this would necessitate a force of some 60,000 which would be available for deployment to a crisis area within 60 days and which could be maintained there for up to a year.
This capability was incorporated in a so-called Headline Goal agreed in 1999 in Helsinki. In Nice the following year, this Headline Goal was supplemented by the establishment of the EU Military Committee and the EU Military Staff.
Shorter reaction time
2004 saw the start for the Nordic Battlegroup (NBG) when Headline Goal 2010 was approved and endorsed by the European Council. This entailed sharpening the requirements for the EU’s military crisis management capability in a number of ways. Perhaps the most important of these was that it must be possible to initiate a military crisis management operation within five to ten days following the approval of a resolution to do so. That is to say at much shorter notice than had been envisaged in 1999.
Out of this was born the EU’s “Battlegroup Concept”. The idea was, and is, that these rapid response units, or battlegroups, would be inserted in the initial, and often very difficult, opening phase of an operation. They would be capable of carrying out tasks across the full spectrum of conflict, ranging from purely humanitarian tasks to combat, for a limited period.
Designed for land combat
The EU defines a battlegroup as “the smallest force package capable of stand-alone operations, including the ability to contribute to an initial entry force.”
The EU does not lay down in detail the composition of a battlegroup, only that it should have a central core consisting of a battalion-strength force designed for land combat.
In addition it must have its own support and maintenance resources. It must be multinational and capable of being set up by a lead nation in collaboration with others, or be a coalition of member states.
Member states may also invite non-EU members to cooperate in the formation of a battlegroup. Norway’s participation in the NBG is an example of this.
But forming a battlegroup is not sufficient. It needs command arrangements and it has to be deployed to an operational area. It therefore must be linked to a force headquarters and to predetermined operational and strategic support functions such as, for example, strategic air transport and other logistic facilities.
Tailor-made to match the mission
The battlegroup is intended for a number of possible missions. But since it is not possible to know in advance exactly what a mission will entail, there is also a mechanism for tailoring a battlegroup to the needs of a specific EU mission.
This is known as the force generation process and it means that the person appointed as Operation Commander is also responsible for requesting member states to provide resources if he considers this to be necessary in order to carry out the mission in accordance with the EU’s guidelines.
Two battlegroups always standing by
Since 1 January 2007 the EU has had two battlegroups constantly at standby for periods of six months at a time.
During the first six months of 2008 Sweden, together with Finland, Estonia, Norway and Ireland, has been responsible for one of the two battlegroups at standby. Spain, France, Germany and Portugal have been responsible for the other. No battlegroup mission was needed during this time.
The next occasion on which Sweden’s turn comes round again will be in 2011.