Paris, 20 May 2010 - The Defence Committee of the European Security and Defence Assembly, meeting today in Paris, under the chairmanship of Mr Doug HENDERSON (United Kingdom, Socialist Group), discussed draft reports and voted three preliminary draft recommendations on the following subjects:


“European cooperation on military helicopters”
Rapporteur: Mrs Claire CURTIS-THOMAS (United Kingdom, Socialist Group)
“Considering the importance of helicopters for military and civilian crisis-management operations and combat missions”; “noting that in spite of the large numbers of military helicopters present in the European armed forces, only a small percentage of them are available for external operations, particularly those taking place in highly demanding (hot and high) environments”, the Assembly recommends pursuing “the efforts within the European Defence Agency to improve the availability of transport helicopters for external operations”; reaching “agreement on the launch of a European heavy transport helicopter programme and studying the possibility of giving a transatlantic dimension to that programme” and continuing “the commitment to and funding of bi- and multilateral initiatives for the refitting and modernisation of European Mil Mi-17 helicopters and other types of helicopters needed for external operations”.


“Medical cooperation among European armed forces”
Rapporteur: Mrs Tuija NURMI (Finland, EPP/CD Group)
“Recognising that crisis and emergency medicine is a recent development and that large-scale responses to crises often necessitate deployment of military assets in civilian areas” and given “the increasingly frequent occurrence of Great Humanitarian Crises”, the Assembly recommends increasing “efforts among member states to combine the experience of civilians and members of the military who have expertise in crisis and emergency medicine, including, for consultative purposes, members of civil society”. The Assembly further recommends establishing a “list of medical staff and resources” available within EU member states for external operations of the Union.


“Permanent structured cooperation under the Lisbon Treaty – reply to the annual report of the Council”
Rapporteur: The Earl of DUNDEE (United Kingdom, Federated Group)
The Assembly recommends that EU member states that are so willing should “set up a permanent working group of representatives from the EU member states to prepare a joint declaration by those countries wishing to participate in permanent structured cooperation”. Permanent structured cooperation is outlined in Article 42(6) and detailed in Article 46 of the Treaty on European Union as well as in Protocol No. 10 annexed to the Lisbon Treaty. The Assembly also recommends providing for “two distinct areas of cooperation under permanent structured cooperation: the first, for cooperation in the operational area under the chairmanship of the Director General of the EU Military Staff; and the second, for cooperation on capabilities/equipment under the chairmanship of the Director of the European Defence Agency (EDA)”. The Assembly recommends allowing “for maximum flexibility in the permanent structured cooperation process, in particular by promoting enhanced cooperation on a case-by-case basis”.


If you wish to attend the debate on these three reports and the vote on the draft recommendations at the Assembly’s forthcoming plenary session to be held at the Palais d’Iéna, Paris, from 15 to 17 June, please contact Assembly Press Counsellor, Corine Caballero-Bourdot, (ccaballero@assembly.weu.int).