21 NOVEMBER CONFERENCE - EUROPEAN MINISTERS OF DEFENCE + 13 CANDIDATE COUNTRIES, NORWAY & ICELAND

Background

At the Amsterdam summit in June 1997 the European Union Member States took the decision to undertake crisis management tasks. This decision was in part a reflection of the collective wish of the Member States to develop a stronger European humanitarian effort in response to the ravages of the conflict in the Balkans. It was also a reflection of the agreed objective among member states to add a security and defence dimension to the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The crisis management tasks in which the European Union intends to be involved, and which are known as the Petersberg tasks, are:

· humanitarian assistance and rescue tasks,

· peacekeeping tasks,

· peacemaking,

· reconstruction of civil society, administration and judiciary

The European Union is currently in the process of building structures to deal with crisis management that will have both civilian and military components. With this in mind, the Member States have established a timetable wherein it is envisaged that the current French Presidency will deal with the military capabilities required for crisis management tasks. The next presidency, under Sweden, will consider the objective of drawing together the complementary civilian elements that will make up the whole of the Union's effort in the field of crisis management.

In carrying out these tasks, the European Union will follow the principles and objectives of the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Member States themselves will be participating on a voluntary basis, and it is in this spirit that they have extended the possibility of participation to the thirteen candidate countries for EU membership plus Norway and Iceland.

As part of this overall aim, the European Defence Ministers met on 20 November in order to confirm their joint contribution to the military organisation of crisis management. It is with these elements on the table that the French Presidency is holding another conference today, together with the thirteen candidate countries plus Norway and Iceland.

Malta's Contribution

As a sovereign nation state, with a deep interest in promoting co-operation and security in the Mediterranean, Malta feels the need to make its own direct contribution to the humanitarian and rescue missions of this European crisis management effort. Foreign Minister Dr. Joe Borg is representing the Prime Minister, who is Malta's Defence Minister, at today's conference in order to announce the nature of Malta's contribution in this regard.

One of the objectives of the Maltese government is to provide the opportunity for volunteers from our armed forces to take part in this collective European effort. The Maltese pledge will consist of a light infantry platoon of about 30 men together with a small national headquarters element consisting of about four people, in order to liaise with their European counterparts.

The Maltese contingent will be deployed jointly with troops from another nation - a practice already happening in various UN mandated operations. In KFOR, for example, the Swiss act in collaboration with the Austrians.

The close working relationship that has been established between Malta and the Italian armed forces for over 25 years, the experience the Italians have in such operations, and our geographical position have all contributed to the decision taken by the Maltese Government to turn to Italy for support. This co-operation will include training on a bilateral level in Italy and in Malta, as well as logistical backup in the eventuality of a deployment.