Paris, 4 June 2008 – On Wednesday the Assembly said that the deployment of the European Union military force – EUFOR – in Chad and the Central African Republic to protect the refugees fleeing from the Darfur conflict was both “a big step forward and a test of credibility for the ESDP and the EU”.

Submitting a report on behalf of the Defence Committee, René Rouquet (France, Socialist Group) felt that it was still “too soon to draw any conclusions” on this operation which was the fifth and largest in terms of troop numbers to be conducted by the EU in the ESDP framework. He recalled that 2 380 men had already been deployed at the end of April with a view to reaching an overall strength of 3 700. 14 member states have provided forces on the ground, with the main contributors being France (2 000 troops), Poland (400) and Ireland (400), and 22 countries are represented in the Operation Headquarters in Paris. According to General Patrick Nash of Ireland, EUFOR Operation Commander at strategic level, this mission “will take place in a complex environment, on hostile military terrain and will be a huge logistical challenge”.

Mr Rouquet observed that the launch of this European mission had been “applauded by the UN, the media and civil society” which see it as a sign of Europe’s readiness to shoulder its responsibilities with regard to the violent conflicts in Darfur that have caused the deaths of at least 200 000 people and the displacement of at least two million refugees.

While “fully supporting the efforts of the EUFOR mission”, the Assembly nevertheless called for more flexibility in the political decision-making process (which requires unanimity). It took six months to take the decision to deploy EUFOR. The Assembly also recommended drawing up proposals for “the rapid reform of the Athena mechanism” for funding the common costs of EU military crisis-management operations. In the particular case of EUFOR, this mechanism only covers a minor part of the total costs of the mission (120 million euros out of an estimated total of half a billion euros). The Assembly would also like the EU to “have a permanent responsive operational planning and command capacity” and “re-examine the framework nation concept in the light of the major difficulties encountered in the force generation phase”.

Ruhi Acikgöz (Turkey), co-Rapporteur, called on the EU to “collaborate more closely with non-member countries”. He regretted that “for political reasons, Turkey cannot for the moment take part in the ESDP as it would have liked”.