Military Mobility (PESCO)

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Military Mobility is one of the initial projects launched under the European Union's (EU) Permanent Structured Cooperation in Defence (PESCO) facility. It is commonly termed a "Military Schengen" as it is inspired by the EU's Schengen Area, but designated to aid the free movement of military units and assets throughout Europe via removal of bureaucratic barriers and improvement of infrastructure. [1]

European Union Economic and political union of European states

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi) and an estimated population of about 513 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. For travel within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.

Permanent Structured Cooperation

The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is the part of the European Union's (EU) security and defence policy (CSDP) in which 25 of the 28 national armed forces pursue structural integration. Based on Article 42.6 and Protocol 10 of the Treaty on European Union, introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, PESCO was first initiated in 2017. The initial integration within the PESCO format is a number of projects planned to launch in 2018.

Schengen Area area of 26 European states without mutual border controls

The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. The area mostly functions as a single jurisdiction for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement.

Contents

Background

Last month, [Lieutenant General Ben Hodges] sat in his jet on the tarmac of Papa Air base in Hungary, engines screaming in the 40-degree heat, as an aide collected the passports of the general and his entourage, including a German military attaché and this reporter, and brought them to be checked by Hungarian border guards waiting in a nearby car, so that the entourage could fly on to a base in Bulgaria.

Politico Europe

The zone was proposed by Commander of United States Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges who made some initial headway via NATO, but issues like passport checks and weaknesses in transport links that can't take large military vehicles persisted. In 2017 Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch defence minister, proposed a Schengen-inspired agreement for movement as part of the PESCO facility gaining ground as a result of Brexit and geopolitical pressures. [1]

United States Army Europe Army Service Component Command of the United States Army

United States Army Europe (USAREUR), formally United States Army Europe and Seventh Army, is an Army Service Component Command of the United States Army. It is responsible for directing US Army operations throughout the United States European Command Area of Responsibility. During the Cold War, HQ USAREUR supervised ground formations primarily focused upon the Warsaw Pact militaries to the east as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) Central Army Group. Since the Revolutions of 1989, USAREUR has greatly reduced its size, dispatched US forces to Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and increased security cooperation with other NATO land forces.

Ben Hodges United States Army officer

Lieutenant General Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Hodges III is a retired United States Army officer who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe (USAREUR). He is currently the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

NATO Intergovernmental military alliance of Western states

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

Military mobility was selected as a PESCO project due to its low cost and relatively little political disagreement on the subject. Out of all PESCO projects at launch, nearly all PESCO states will participate in it. The agreement is one which is designed to work with both NATO and EU operations, to ensure "units and equipment are in the right place at the right time, regardless of whether they are deployed in an EU or NATO context." [1] The European Commission is to bring forward an action plan in 2018. [2]

European Commission executive institution of the European Union

The European Commission (EC) is an institution of the European Union, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg City, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. Unlike in the Council of the European Union, where members are directly and indirectly elected, and the European Parliament, where members are directly elected, the Commissioners are proposed by the Council of the European Union, on the basis of suggestions made by the national governments, and then appointed by the European Council after the approval of the European Parliament.

Aim

The project is inspired by Schengen, but faces very different challenges. It revolves around two main areas. The first is the removal of bureaucratic barriers such as passport checks and requirement of advance notice. While in the event of an emergency NATO can move troops faster, during peacetime advance notice is required for many movements; for example the movement of US troops from Poland to Germany requires 5 days advance notice. [1]

The second area is infrastructure, there are roads and bridges that cannot take the weight of heavy equipment, tunnels which are too small and airstrips which cannot accommodate larger aircraft. [1]

Participants

As of PESCO's launch in December 2017, the Military Mobility project is the only project to count nearly every PESCO state as a participant (only France is absence, initially just as an observer). The project is led by Germany and the Netherlands. PESCO counts all EU states minus Denmark, Malta and the United Kingdom. [3]

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Netherlands Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe

The Netherlands is a country located mainly in Northwestern Europe. The European portion of the Netherlands consists of twelve separate provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba— it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Call for ‘military Schengen’ to get troops moving, Politico.eu 4 August 2017
  2. ↑ EU launches work on 'military Schengen', EUObserver 10 November 2017
  3. ↑ http://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/32020/draft-pesco-declaration-clean-10122017.pdf
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