Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 Mar 2000

Vol. 516 No. 6

Written Answers. - Defence Ministers Meeting.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

160 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Defence the matters discussed and the conclusions, if any, reached at the meeting of EU Defence Ministers in Portugal on 27 February 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8799/00]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

At the invitation of the Portugese Minister for Defence I attended an informal meeting of Defence Ministers of the member states of the European Union in Sintra, Portugal, on 28 February 2000. The meeting, an informal event, was non-decision making in character and was held outside the institutional framework of the EU.

The discussion at the meeting focused on the issue of capabilities for the Petersberg Tasks, particularly the steps necessary to implement the Headline Goal agreed at Helsinki. The meeting also noted the proposed establishment, as of 1 March 2000, of interim bodies and structures within the council to improve decision making for the Petersberg Tasks.

As the House will recall, the Helsinki Euro pean Council in December 1999 agreed on a voluntary target for establishing capabilities for Petersberg Tasks . This target, known as a Headline Goal, which member states aim to meet by the year 2003, involves the ability to deploy 50,000 to 60,000 personnel within 60 days and to sustain that deployment for one year. This would roughly equate to a mission of a scale comparable to that of KFOR in Kosovo.