Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 June 2004
103 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Defence his views on whether European Defence Forces will need to increase their strength and investment in the next ten years in view of the problems the United States is facing in its public finances. [17779/04]
View answerNational sovereignty and voluntarism are the fundamental underlying principles of participation in the ESDP. For example, participation in any specific EU operation by member states is decided on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with respective national decision making procedures.
Defence spending in EU member states remains a sovereign issue for each country and is usually undertaken in the context of ever increasing and competing demands for limited national resources.
In seeking to improve the EU's capability to carry out peace support operations, I have advocated the necessity to focus on the qualitative aspects of capability development and on methods of improving efficiencies.
In Ireland, the Defence Forces have benefited from such an approach which underscores the Government's White Paper on Defence published in February 2000. The White Paper set out a medium term strategy for defence covering the period up to 2010. A major objective of the strategy is to ensure that Ireland has a world-class military organisation capable of carrying out the roles assigned to it by the Government, both at home and abroad. This objective requires an ongoing modernisation process, including an investment programme to ensure that the Defence Forces are properly equipped for these roles.
In the context of the broader development of the EU's capacity to carry out both civilian and military crisis management operations, I have continually advocated a similar approach to capability development. I believe that significant progress has been made in furthering the objectives of the EU in this regard during the Irish Presidency. The adoption by the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting on 17 May 2004 of a new "headline goal" with a horizon of 2010 has been a key development during our Presidency. In this regard, member states have decided to set themselves a new headline goal, reflecting the European security strategy adopted by the Heads of State and Government in Brussels in December 2003, taking into account the evolution of the strategic environment and drawing on lessons learned from previous EU-led crisis management operations.
Another key development, on which I have reported in more detail in response to other questions today, has been the political agreement by the General Affairs and External Relations Council of 14 June to accept a joint action to establish an agency in the field of capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments. The agency's main aim will be to bolster efforts of the member states to support the EU's defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the ESDP as it stands now and develops in the future. I am hopeful that the agency will contribute to improvements in competitiveness and efficiencies in the defence equipment sector.
I am pleased that my views in this regard are shared by many of my colleagues at EU level at a time when the majority of member states, including Ireland, have no plans to increase their defence spending.
