Activities of Tarja CRONBERG related to 2012/2319(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Maritime dimension of the common security and defence policy - EU's military structures: state of play and future prospects (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on EU’s military structures: state of play and future prospects PDF (181 KB) DOC (106 KB)
Amendments (23)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Reminds the EU Member States, the VP/HR, the Commission and the European Defence Agency that more than two decades after the Cold War and after having been able to take advantage of relatively high national defence budgets the EU Member States were not able to fulfil the Helsinki Headline Goals and other joint military capability development objectives; therefore questions the argument that current cuts in national defence budgets might automatically lead to capability gaps for CSDP and weaken the CSDP because these capabilities do not yet exist due to past failures; is of the strong opinion that the current defence budgets cuts urgently need to be coordinated between Member States and that these cuts have de facto triggered a few European joint capability development projects as in the context of the recent Pooling and Sharing methodology; reiterates its opinion that the recent cuts shall be understood as a chance to build an effective and truly European CSDP;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Urges the EU Member States and the Commission to seriously restructure and consolidate defence industrial capacities, in order to reduce existing over capacities which mainly drive expansive national export policies;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Recalls that opening the EU budget for procuring military goods and technology represents a strategic mistake, as introducing fresh money would only prolong the current structural deficits such as inefficiency, duplication, corruption and the procurement of useless military goods and technology; stresses that a lack of financial resources is not the reason for persisting CSDP capability weaknesses but the lack of will of Member States to commit seriously and extensively to joint capability development projects; also recalls that the EU Member States intend to considerably reduce the financial volume of the next multiannual financial perspective and as a consequence fewer EU financial resources will be left for non-military and non-security research and innovation, which forms the cornerstone of the European economy and guarantees jobs and prosperity;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. WelcomNotes the work of the European Commission Task Force on Defence Industries and Markets, and calls on the Commission to develop proposals on how, with a flexible approach, wider EU policies and tools could be used in support of defence and security objectives, especially in areas of transversal nature such as dual-use technologies;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the renewed impulse given by the European Council in December 2012 to increasing the operational effectiveness and efficiency of CSDP operations, enhancing European cooperation in order to provide future-oriented capabilities and fill critical gaps, as well as to strengthenconsolidating and rationalising the European defence industry;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls again for the creation of a fully- fledged EU Operational Headquarters within the European External Action Service (EEAS), if necessary throughon the VP/HR and the EU Member States to ensure effective and integrated planning, and faster decision- making, for CSDP operations, by combining the relevant planning capacities from the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD), EU Military Staff (EUMS) and the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC); in addition, to create a permanent conduct structured cooperation; stresses that it should be a civilian- military structure, responsible for the planning and conduct of both EU civilian missions and military by establishing a permanent military Operational Headquarter, co- located with a Civilian Conduct Capability, in order to allow the effective implementation of military and civilian operations, with separate civilian and militaryhilst safeguarding their respective chains of command;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Points out that the creation of an EU Operational Headquarters permanent military planning and conduct capability would greatly enhance the EU's institutional memory in crisis management, contribute to the development of a common strategic culture through the secondment of national personnel, maximise the benefits of civilian-military coordination, allow for the pooling of certain functions, reduce costs in the longer term, and facilitate political oversight by Parliament and the Council;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Takes the view that the reviewed ATHENA mechanism for common costs of military operations still does not take adequately into account the specificities of the battle-group concept, and calls for a significant expansion of the common costs for rapid reaction operations, up to a full coverage of costs when battle-groups are used; considers that applying the ‘costs lie where they fall’ principle to the battle- groups, put on stand- by on a voluntary and rotational basis, is contrary to the principle of fair burden- sharing;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Recalls the mission and tasks of the EDA as provided for in Articles 42(3) and 45 TEU, in particular its essential role in developing and implementing an EU capabilities and armaments policy, harmonising operational needs, proposing multilateral projects, coordinating Member States' programmes, strengthenconsolidating and rationalising the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base and improving the effectiveness of military expenditure; urges the Member States, given the EDA's strong cost-effectiveness focus, to provide it with adequate funding in order to exploit its full potential, and repeats its call on the VP/HR to present proposals to finance the Agency's staffing and running costs from the Union budget;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls for a more structured approach to address key capability shortfalls at European level and in particular in the areas of key force enablers and force multipliers – such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, strategic air lift, helicopters, medical support, air-to-air refuelling and precision-guided munitions – in close cooperation and full complementarity with NATO; welcomnotes the initial results of pooling and sharing initiatives managed by the EDA but stresses that further progress in these and other areas is a necessity; deplores the fact that, although European armed forces have repeatedly faced the lack of such force enablers and force multipliers in CSDP and other operations, none of the identified capability gaps have yet been filled in a satisfactory way although EU Member States have been upholding relatively high levels of defence spending for the last two decades;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Reiterates its call on the Member States to consider joint ownership of certain expensive capabilities, notably space capabilities, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or strategic lift assets; welcomes the work of the Commission exploring the options for developing EU- owned capabilities, exploiting the potential of synergies between defence and civilian security needs, such as in the areas of civil protection or border surveillance;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Emphasises the key importance of satellite assets for modern-day operations, in particular with regard to ISR, communication and navigation capabilities and to the need to maximise the use of scarce resources based on a common approach and on the exploitation of all possible civil-military synergies to avoid unnecessary duplication; in this respect, encourages further cooperation between the European Space Agency, the EDA and the Commission, and insists on continued EU funding of the GMES and Galileo programmes;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the adoption of the code of conduct on pooling and sharing as an important step towards more cooperation in Europe and stresses the need to establish a first strategic assessment of its implementation by the end of the year; expects the European Council in December 2013 to be a significant milestone in terms of giving a political impulse to pooling and sharing and of giving clear guidance about the implementation; deplores the fact that EU Member States were able to only agree on 11 out of 300 Pooling and Sharing proposals made by the national chiefs of defence;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Stresses the importance of ensuring the security of supply of the equipment needed by Member States armed forces in order for them to fulfil their commitments in international crises; is seriously concerned about the increasing dependencies on non- European technologies and sources of supply and its implications for European autonomy; underlines the strategic importance of the defence industry, and calls on the EDA and the Commission to advance their work on identifying key industrial capabilities to be preserved or developed in Europe and on reducing European supply dependency;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Reiterates its full support for European structures and projects in the area of education and training and stresses, in particular, the contribution of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) to the promotion of a common security culture, as well as its potential in identifying and developing cost-saving collaborative projects between national institutions; calls on the Member States to strengthen the College by providing it with funding from the Union budget; encourages further development of the European initiative for the exchange of young officers, inspired by Erasmus, as well as the participation of European military officers' education and training institutes in the Erasmus programme;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 47 – point 1
Paragraph 47 – point 1
· the establishment of a permanent EU Operational Headquartersmilitary planning and conduct capability,
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 – point 1
Paragraph 48 – point 1
· structured coordination of defence planning, including financial aspects