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– EuroArmy...For Peace or
War?
Poland to beef up European military
club
By Philippa Runner
Poland has opted to become a full member of the EU and NATO-linked
military club, Eurocorps, in a move designed to spur on the creation of
a significant European defence capability.
Warsaw from 2009 is to pledge 3,000 soldiers to the existing
60,000-strong Eurocorps force, hold 15 officer-level posts and forward a
deputy director to the Strasbourg-based outfit, Polish media report.
The club currently consists of full members France, Germany, Spain,
Belgium and Luxembourg as well as eight junior partners, including
Poland, who each contribute a handful of technical staff.
Eurocorps is not an EU institution. It was set up as an independent
Franco-German project in 1992 to help support EU, NATO and UN
operations, seeing active service in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan so
far.
The organisation has strong political links to the EU, however. Its
badge is a sword superimposed on a map of Europe and the EU's golden
stars. A Eurocorps unit hoisted the EU flag and played the EU anthem
outside the EU parliament in Strasbourg on "Europe Day" last week.
"Our decision to fully join Eurocorps comes from the conviction that
Europe is becoming the second pillar of our national security alongside
NATO," Polish defence minister Bogdan Klich said in Polish daily
Rzeczpospolita on Thursday (15 May).
"We treat NATO as the main security pillar, but we cannot forget Europe
is increasing its capabilities and this stands behind our desire to join
this process."
The EU has a mixed bag of military cooperation projects under its
European security and defence policy chapter, with an EU-flag
peacekeeping force currently at work in Chad.
But the new Lisbon Treaty could deepen military integration with a new
article that envisages "the progressive framing of a common defence
policy [that] will lead to a common defence, when the European Council,
acting unanimously, so decides."
"We have to start a discussion on increasing the planning and
operational capabilities of the EU. We expect a serious debate will
start under the French [EU] presidency," Poland's Mr Klich said.
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