Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers held at Noordwijk in the Netherlands on 17 September 2004 was attended by my predecessor, Deputy Michael Smith. I welcome the opportunity to continue with my predecessor's practice of ensuring that the House is kept abreast of developments in the European security and defence policy, ESDP, and on issues discussed at ministerial meetings.

The meeting in Noordwijk focused on the continued development of the European Union's military capabilities to carry out crisis management operations. The key focus in this regard was on addressing the remaining shortfalls of the headline goal 2003 and the achievement of the qualitative objectives of the headline goal for 2010. The meeting also provided an opportunity for Ministers to monitor the preparations for the forthcoming EU Operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this regard, the EU is working towards a smooth and timely handover from the current NATO led stabilisation force, SFOR, to the EU before the end of this year. Operation Althea will represent a significant milestone for the European security and defence policy as both civilian and military instruments from the EU will be engaged with the Bosnian authorities in their efforts towards post-conflict resolution and stabilisation.

During the working lunch there was an informal discussion on ESDP and the fight against terrorism which is primarily an issue for justice and home affairs ministries. Afterwards, the meeting concentrated on the EU's efforts to develop a military rapid response capability as reflected in both the EU security strategy and the headline goal for 2010. This included discussion on initiatives which have been taking place towards the development of the 2010 headline goal objective of creating coherent and credible rapidly deployable military force packages, known as battle groups. These initiatives will form the main focus of a capability commitment conference which will be hosted by the Dutch Presidency in November.

The meeting also received a presentation on proposals for the development of capabilities in the field of strategic transport and the practical steps which could be taken to ensure the availability of transport solutions by 2007. Finally, the meeting was briefed on an initiative to create a European gendarmerie force, EGF, on which France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands have been working since October 2003 and which will be drawn from those member states.