Dutch Call on EU To Pool, Share Capabilities

29 Jun 2011 By JULIAN HALE DefenseNews

BRUSSELS - Dutch Defence Minister Hans Hillen is calling for a mini-session in the European Union by the end of 2011, in which all EU countries would discuss their plans for pooling and sharing capabilities.

Speaking June 29 at a Security and Defence Agenda event entitled, "Shaping NATO's reform agenda," he said "Europe needs to take more responsibility and seize the opportunity to develop an EU strategy with matching military means."

Pointing to high increases in spending on health in the Netherlands in recent years, he asked rhetorically: "Do we focus on high standards of health care, or else security, too?"

He also said more countries were questioning the need for military action outside their borders. His recipe for the future included "being more selective" with regard to future NATO operations, "reforming our armed forces" and allowing pioneer groups to help move NATO forward.

Pioneering countries could take the lead in smaller, flexible groups, which could deliver "quicker and more tangible results."

He said having subgroups in NATO would mean "accepting mutual dependence and so giving up some degree of national sovereignty in some areas. This needs to be addressed in national parliaments."

The Dutch Navy shares an amphibious force with the U.K., while the Netherlands is looking to step up talks with Germany on military cooperation.

Picking up on Hillen's announcement that the Netherlands would be doing away with all of its battle tanks, former NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer called for coordination in defense cuts, adding that he hoped "not many other allies do the same, as then we will have no muscle across the board."

As for the Libya NATO operation, Jean-Francois Bureau, Controleur General des Armees at the French Ministry of Defence, raised interoperability, as well as a shortage of tankers and electronic and intelligence equipment, as important challenges.

Speaking about the Franco-British defense treaty signed last year, Bureau said it was "not meaningful if it stays as a bilateral process." His remark implied that other European countries could be brought into the process, but it was not clear how.

A French official added, "we can't wait for the U.S. to provide the answers" and that "if other nations want to build similar mechanisms [to the Franco-British one] among themselves, that would be good for everyone."

Bodies such as the European Defence Agency and NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) needed to be used, added the official. C4I, strategic transport, technologies dealing with cyberdefense and counterterrorism have all been identified by the ACT as key areas for cooperation.

Gen. Knud Bartels, chief of defense from the Danish Ministry of Defence, stressed that "multinationality" was needed to provide "faster, cheaper and better solutions to meet military priorities and not industrial interests."

He suggested training, storing spare parts and ammunition as areas where multinational solutions were possible to help cut costs.

He suggested that sophisticated ammunition, for example, for the ship-based Mark 41 missile launchers, which a number of countries have bought, could be pooled "under the understanding that it would be made available regardless of the other's opinion on the legitimacy of an intended operation.

"Pooling and sharing is about giving away sovereignty and standing by the sovereignty of another nation," he said.