Paul Murphy
Question:81. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Defence if he will report on the activities of Ireland under PESCO since its implementation. [36610/20]
View answerTuesday, 17 November 2020
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Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is a process under which groups of Member States can come together to develop capabilities in support of Common CSDP Operations. On a voluntary basis, 25 EU Member States have joined PESCO and subscribed to more binding commitments to invest, plan, develop and operate defence capabilities together within this EU framework.
The objective of PESCO is to generate coherent defence capabilities which will be available to Member States for national and multinational (EU, NATO, UN, etc.) missions and operations. This will enhance the EU’s capacity as an international security actor, to contribute to the protection of EU citizens, support international peace and security and maximise the effectiveness of defence spending by participating member States.
Forty seven PESCO projects have been launched to-date. These include projects in the areas of capability development and in the operational dimension. Each project is managed by the participating member States with oversight from the Council.
Ireland's participation in PESCO was agreed by Government and approved by Dáil Éireann prior to the Council Decision establishing PESCO on 11 December 2017. Ireland is a Participant in one PESCO project (Greek-led Upgrade of Maritime Surveillance) and also has Observer status on a further nine PESCO projects – (1) Deployable Military Disaster Relief Capability Package; (2) Maritime (semi) Autonomous Systems for Mine Countermeasures; (3) Cyber Threats and Incident Response Information Sharing Platform; (4) European Secure Software Defined Radio; (5) Military Mobility; (6) Energy Operational Function; (7) EU Radio Navigation Solution; (8) Counter Unmanned Aerial System; (9) Special Operations Forces Medical Training Centre. Ireland also participated in the German led project EU Training Mission Competence Centre, this project closed in November 2019 with agreement of all members as it duplicated existing structures in the EU.
A Strategic Review of PESCO is due to be completed by the end of this year as per the Council Decision establishing PESCO. The PESCO Strategic Review Document 2020 and associated Council Conclusions are currently in the process of being finalised following detailed discussions between Member States.