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EU: Momentum builds for defence coordination

01 January 2007

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The European Defence Agency's (EDA) major thrust in 2007 will be to speed up military capability planning and push the EU member nations to better coordinate their defence programs and budgetary cycles, according to agency officials. The EDA got the nod for its new Capability Development Plan from national armaments planners during a meeting in December. The plan will build on the EU Headline Goal, a capabilities blueprint developed in 2003, but "left largely unfulfilled due to bureaucratic inertia and lack of coordination" (Defense News). The plan will cover four areas:

* creating a database of EDA countries defence plans and programs

* defining capabilities shortfalls from the Headline Goal and ranking their priority

* developing capabilities-based scenarios, supported by studies

* extracting lessons from capability planning

EDA Chief Executive Nick Witney sees "a major shift in support by the military for coordinated [cross border] capability planning". According to former deputy supreme NATO commander Rupert Smith the explanation is that "the ability to use NATO as a policy tool has grown steadily more difficult since 9/11 and Iraq. [..] NATO is being dragged into the future by its nose rather than taking the lead. It's reactive and tentative in its approach."

Defense News, 1.1.07 (Brooks Tigner)

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