Impetus - Europa

PERSPECTIVES
The EUMS: A Team and a Team Player
An interview with Director General EUMS, LtGen Ton van Osch
Lt Gen Ton van Osch,
Director General EU Military Staff.
The EU Military Staff has been part of the
European External Action Service for more than a
year now. What is your first impression?
My first impression is positive, though we should not
underestimate the complexity of weaving together
this innovative Service to deliver real effect for the 27
Member States. But above all I am optimistic for the
future: for the first time we are developing a truly
‘Comprehensive’ approach to crisis management
using all the integral instruments of the EU in concert.
We already see evidence of that improved
‘Comprehensiveness’ in making the EU more efficient
and consequently the military embedded within it; for
example the way the EU has begun to synchronize all
its actions in the Horn of Africa.
What is for you the most important issue?
That there are so many issues. Many of them are
interlinked. There are big issues like the financial crisis
and the huge cuts in Defence budgets, crises in the
southern neighbourhood of the EU, consequences of
climate change, cyber defence, lessons from Libya and
the new strategic focus of the US. Although this
complexity sometimes makes life difficult, nevertheless
one can view such issues as real catalysts for further
development of our Common Security and Defence
Policy. No one can deny that there is an increased need
for the European military to find innovative solutions.
Demand for security is growing and, since budgets are
decreasing, we need to improve cooperation and
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become more efficient. We do so by implementing an
ever more ‘Comprehensive Approach’ to crisis
management, and by developing new initiatives for
‘Pooling and Sharing’. The EUMS can play an important
role in translating the political intent into concrete action.
Aren’t there also many organizational issues to
be solved?
Certainly! Remember 2011 was the year in which the
EEAS was created. This coincided with a period of a
heightened number of crises. We could not afford to
close the shop, sit back and dream-up plans for the
reorganisation. Reality intervened. We had to learn by
experience on the way. That often is not the best way,
but it was the only way open to us. We all know that
there is a long list of organisational issues to be solved.
But at least, we now have a clear understanding of
what still must be done. Let’s make 2012 the year in
which we solve most of these organisational issues. I’m
grateful to all in the EUMS, the wider EEAS and the
Council Secretariat who work hard to get this done,
knowing it is not an easy job.
Are you satisfied with the role of the EUMS after
the creation of the EEAS?
Yes, but we should not take our role for granted. For
people who are not used to working with the military,
it is not always easy to understand the military approach
to our different tasks. We therefore need to better
explain “who we are and what we do”. Critically, in
everything we do, we must show that we are team
players, thoroughly integrated with our civilian
colleagues within the EEAS. That said, what has not
changed since the creation of the EEAS, is that we also
continue to work under the direction of the EU Military
Committee. There are good reasons for this. For any
military operation, the Chiefs of Defence (represented
through the Military Committee) have to create and
deliver the military capabilities and shoulder the risks.
But they have always understood that the military can
become more effective by applying the levers of power
through a truly civilian and military ‘Comprehensive
Approach’. That is one of the reasons why the EUMS
became part of the EEAS. ‘Comprehensiveness’ is easier
to find at the lower, or ‘softer’, end of the conflict
spectrum. But ‘Comprehensiveness’ does not always
mean the application of ‘soft’ power. I see many
developments in our security environment which
demand that we, as military, also remain capable of
acting quickly with more demanding military capabilities
up to the peace enforcing scale of crisis response. The
strength of the EU is that, uniquely, we have an integral
‘Civ-Mil’ Comprehensive team; the strength of the
military in that construct is that we know how to work
as an integrated Combined and Joint military team as
well. It is great to be part of both teams! n