EU ministers support EUFOR scale-back

02/10/2008

EU defence ministers voiced support Wednesday for a plan to phase out their bloc's peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, citing the improved security situation there.

(AFP, Reuters, AP, DPA, Bloomberg, Euronews, VOA, B92 - 01/10/08)

The EU's Althea mission, launched in 2004, numbers around 2,200 troops and is charged with military tasks under a peace deal that ended the 1992-1995 conflict. [Getty Images]

The EU peacekeeping force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has achieved its military goals, the Union's defence ministers said on Wednesday (October 1st), as they discussed the mission's future at an informal meeting in Deauville, France.

They also agreed that given the significant improvements in security in BiH in recent years, the 27-nation bloc should move towards transforming the scope and role of the operation, dubbed Althea.

"The military objectives have been fulfilled; there is no reason whatsoever to maintain the mission," French Defence Minister Herve Morin, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.

According to the DPA, the four possible scenarios for EUFOR's future under consideration ranged from an unaltered mission to complete withdrawal of forces. Morin said the vast majority of member states voiced support for a plan to phase out EUFOR and replace it with a rapid reaction force that is more civilian in nature and is based outside BiH but can intervene in an emergency.

Only "one or two countries" favoured maintaining the status quo, he noted, without naming them.

"Mainly, people thought it was important we move gradually towards withdrawal and particularly towards a change in the nature of the mission," the French minister said.

While EUFOR has largely completed military operations, BiH's biggest perceived need now is for military advisers and police trainers.

In the absence of a unanimous decision Wednesday, British General John McColl, the commander of EUFOR, will "present more precise options" for the EU defence ministers to consider at their next formal meeting in Brussels on November 10th.

Morin stressed, however, the EU is not running away from BiH.

"There is no question of Europe leaving immediately, which would be a bad sign," the minister said. However, the EU must also convince its people that it is capable not only of launching a mission but of ending it as well, he added.

"We can't say to our people that we must have these missions but that we don't know how to finish them," Morin said.