The
decision to deploy an EU brigade to Bangui –EUFOR RCA – has now been taken. The
level of ambition and the duration of this mission are very limited, at best 6
months, and just to protect the international airport.
But
that´s not my point today.
The
decision has shown once more that the EU has to adopt a different model to
finance this type of missions. They cannot be financed by the participating
countries. Some countries would be ready to supply the soldiers and the
logistical military support but they can´t afford the costs. Portugal is just
one those countries. Lisbon would be willing to deploy but the defence budget
for 2014 cannot pay for it. This means the Portuguese will stay away.
These
missions should be funded from a common EU budget. Each member state should
contribute to the annual replenishment of that fund in accordance with their
GDP per capita. This is the only way to approach in more proactive way the
external peace keeping operations of the EU. If it is not adopted, we will
continue to see a contradiction between the decision to assist counties in
crisis and the effective deployment of a credible force. The foreign ministers
will taken the decision but the soldiers will not reach the ground on time and
in sufficient numbers.
And Germany, among others, will never be part of any
effort of this type. Not even by contributing a few euros.
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