The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

CAPABILITY TARGETS AND OPERATIONAL DEMANDS 139of the Integrated Police Unit in the military mission offer opportunities toexplore these concepts further and to incorporate them into the analytical andplanning capacity of the new cell.The Dutch Presidency of July–December 2004 took the debate further, inparticular on future steps for the EU planning process which has prepared theway for the development of the Civil–Military Cell during 2005. With the creationand development of the new Civil–Military Planning Cell during 2005(and its operational centre, planned for 2006) a key missing link in support ofthe EU’s political authorities will be provided. This will be further strengthenedby the British Presidency’s work in July–December 2005 on developing theconceptual framework for civilian crisis management and in particular on howto take forward comprehensive planning concepts. 63 Nevertheless, planning isjust one element: an expanded mandate at the EU level that is not linked to therealities of national planning and decision making will not support the originalgoal, which is to help member states’ defence establishments transform themselvesin support of collective security policy objectives. There is a growingconsensus that, with the new mechanisms provided by the EDA in place, thegreatest challenge is now the gap between the policy and the planning of EUmember states themselves.It is argued above that capability targets and operational demands have beenused as the two main drivers within ESDP, affecting defence concepts and planning.The capability-generation process has benefited from the operationaldemands, which have also provided the conceptual framework for discussingcapability shortfalls.The Petersberg Tasks and the Rapid Reaction Force were also useful forachieving political consensus on developments of the ESDP but soon becamelimited for planning purposes or as a guide to the future evolution of the ESDP.However, the realities of emerging crises in the FYROM and the DRC in 2003shed light on where the ESDP might concretely be applied, allowed a trial ofthe ‘framework nation’ concept, and drove forward the development of newESDP concepts such as the battle groups, bridging forces and standby forces.It remains to be seen how the EU member states will meet their commitmentsto have battle groups that are fully operational by 2007, after which it can bejudged what capability the concept will provide in the short term. Nevertheless,it can be observed that such ‘forces’ (including the earlier Rapid ReactionForce) have also acted as an important driver in the capability-generation process,by providing at least some guide as to what level of intervention Europewould like to be able to provide for collective crisis management objectives.These new concepts, in turn, are underpinning and framing the newcapability-development process, such as with the battle groups. However, thenew capability-development process is itself becoming more institutionalized,63 UK Presidency of the EU 2005, Prospects for the EU in 2005, Command Paper 3311 (The StationeryOffice: London, June 2005), URL , p. 21. The British Presidency plans included a Civil–Military Coordination Seminar, held at theRoyal United Service Institute, London, 17–18 Oct. 2005.