Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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525. To ask the Minister for Defence when the next meeting of EU Defence Ministers will take place; the agenda for same if decided; his priorities for the meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32384/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The next informal meeting of Defence Ministers will be hosted by Italy as part of their Presidency of the EU Council and will take place in Milan on 9 and 10 September. The agenda has not yet issued but it has been suggested that Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Missions and Operations and progress following the European Council meeting on defence in December 2013 will be discussed. In relation to the CSDP Missions and Operations it is anticipated that Operation and Mission Commanders of the five ongoing EU military missions will brief Defence Ministers on the current state of play regarding their missions. These are Operation ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Operation EUNAVFOR ATALANTA the EU’s anti-piracy maritime mission off the coast of Somalia; EUFOR RCA, the EU mission in the Central African Republic; and the EU Training Missions in Mali and Somalia (EUTM Mali and EUTM Somalia).

The meeting of the Heads of State and Government at the European Council in December 2013 focused on Defence. The areas considered were broken into three clusters dealing with

I. increasing the effectiveness, visibility and impact of CSDP including rapid response:

- Developing new regional strategies where necessary and update existing ones,

- Further development of the comprehensive approach

- Working with the United Nations, African Union, NATO and partner countries

- Strengthening ties between CSDP and Freedom Security and Justice actors to deal with horizontal issues e.g. illegal immigration, organised crime etc.

- Increasing the ability to respond to emerging challenges including in the areas of cyber defence, maritime, border challenges, energy security and space.

In the area of Rapid response and Battlegroups (BGs) the proposals included:

- Improving the usability and deployability of Battlegroups through modularity

- Taking forward the agreed Framework Nation approach for the roster

- Enhancing and streamlining the Battlegroup exercises so as to improve transformation, interoperability and co-operation

- Involving Battlegroups in advanced planning

- Carrying out political exercises for the Battlegroups on standby

- Considering the financial aspects as part of the Athena Review (funding mechanism for EU military operations)to be carried out in the second half of 2014.

II. enhancing the development of capabilities:

- A systematic and longer term approach to Defence co-operation

- Increased transparency and information sharing

- Consolidation of demand and harmonisation of requirements

III. strengthening the defence industry:

- The need for a strong healthy and competitive Defence technological and industrial base

- A defence market that is open, transparent, opportunistic and based on equal treatment

- The importance of SMEs as innovators and key enablers for competitiveness

- The development of tangible measures on standards and certification

- The exploitation of synergies between civil and defence related research.

Following the Council discussion and adoption of conclusions a detailed overview of the actions to be taken forward at EU level and by the Member States was prepared and consisted of over sixty (60) actions. This overview is considered a “living document” and reports on its implementation are provided by the EU organisations on a regular basis.

It is expected that the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the EU Commission will brief Ministers at their informal meeting on work undertaken by those organisations to progress the Council Conclusions arising from the European Council discussions last December. I expect reasonable progress to have been made and for further progress to be outlined to Ministers.