Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As part of Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union, my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality and Defence addressed a seminar in May 2013 on the European Council on Defence meeting scheduled to take place in December. During his address, the Minister referred to events that had taken place in Mali. In the context of discussions that have taken place in respect of the forthcoming European Council on Defence meeting, the Minister said that a number of common themes have emerged. One of these included the need for the EU to significantly improve decision-making cycles so that the EU is in a position to respond where and when required and he went on to say that "the experience from the Mali mission would suggest that, while individual member states could respond rapidly, the decision making process within the EU had been found wanting".

The situation in Mali had been deteriorating since an attempted coup in March 2012 and the secession of much of the north of the country, which had become a safe-haven for terrorists and criminals. The EU had been considering the potential for a CSDP mission to Mali to support capacity building of the Malian armed forces since then. However, a rapid deterioration in the security situation and a request from the Malian Government for assistance in January 2013 resulted in France deploying a military operation in Mali, Operation SERVAL, to help the Malian government to restore its territorial integrity.

What occurred in respect of Mali highlights the capacity of a member state, in this case France, with co-operation from a small number of other member states, to react and act with speed. It also highlights one of the difficulties in the European Union in the context of the existing structures and the willingness of member states to act and make speedy decisions. While the EU was discussing and moving to a decision on the EU training mission in Mali, if France had not intervened, the Malian state might not have survived and there would not have been a role for any EU training mission. That is something we need to address.

The European Union is currently reviewing its crisis management procedures with a view to streamlining them, reducing delays in launching missions and operations, and improving its decision-making processes.

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