Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-13-Speech-2-428-000"
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"Mr President, this has been an interesting – and I think very important – debate, not least because, in the context of looking at the economic situation that Member States and institutions find themselves in, it is absolutely vital that we discuss how best to make sure that we are able to respond to some of the crises and security threats that we are faced with as individual nations, as parliamentarians and as institutions.
I want to say two things to end with. First of all, I agree with all those who say that most of our work should be preventative, that the mediation, the work we do on conflict prevention and using resources to try to prevent conflicts and prevent problems, is absolutely right. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Again, that is complementary to those engaged in theatre in other ways. I agree with what has also been said about the need to be extremely proud of the servicemen and women who are operating in theatre at the present time. As we move to what, for us, is the Christmas and holiday season, I am very conscious that men and women are serving across the world and, especially, as was mentioned, in Afghanistan. I am extremely proud of the work that they do and I know that Members of this House are too.
Finally, a word for Mrs Dodds because she asked me a very specific question about whether we should make sure that those doing lonely, complex jobs in places like Afghanistan actually have the procedures that will help them and that we should get the procedures right. In response to that, can I agree with her and pay tribute to Mr White for the incredible work that he did in Iraq.
I do not think that anyone in this House will be surprised to know that this forms part of the discussions that I have on a regular basis with Secretary-General Rasmussen and when I take part in NATO meetings, at their request, both in Foreign Minister and Defence Minister formation. It is really vital that we understand what it is we want to try to achieve and how best to go about it. It is worth remembering the kind of missions that our people are currently engaged in and how those missions work effectively with others that are also operating in the field, not least NATO.
Let me remind honourable Members that we have monitoring missions operating in Georgia as a result of the crisis that Georgia faced when Russia behaved as it did in August 2008. We still have people now who are helping to make sure that there is confidence built on the borders and making sure that people are able to go about their business in an ordinary way.
A number of people have talked about the Horn of Africa and the incredible work that the Atalanta Mission does, made up of different Member States which very willingly bring together their expertise, their ships and their helicopters, led by the British in Northwood – very effectively by Admiral Potts currently serving in command from Northwood – and actually playing a vital role in ensuring that the World Food Programme can deliver food to people who are literally starving, and helping to support countries which are grappling with how to tackle piracy off their coasts, the threat that poses for individuals, the threat of hostage taking and hijacking, and the threat for those who rely on tourism. These are really important issues where the European Union has a contribution to make, not trying to do what NATO does but doing things with NATO.
Perhaps the best example to illustrate this is what is happening currently in Kosovo, with EULEX Kosovo providing what is called the second response line: police officers willing to go in to try to stop the kind of violence that we have witnessed recently in the north of Kosovo, working hand in hand with KFOR, with the NATO forces which are there as the third response unit. This is an international operation because the dangers and difficulties of what has happened between Serbia and Kosovo required us all to provide an international response. Member States freely and willingly want to engage together in a way in which they think they can be effective, which is to provide this kind of police support. That is quite different to what NATO is doing in providing its military support.
Throughout all of these operations, we work very closely with NATO. Indeed, when we were involved with NATO in discussing how best we could support what was occurring in Libya, NATO was very conscious of being engaged in a military fashion, yet needing others to think about how to engage military assets, the kind of equipment that you need in order to support humanitarian aid. So all I would say to those who are worried about the overlap is that we work incredibly hard to make sure that does not exist and we respond to the support that NATO needs and the way in which Member States want to take this forward.
I do not have to remind anyone that, as you look around at what is happening in countries to which we are close or where we are operating, there are many issues to be concerned about, as I was especially aware when I met the four Ministers from the Sahel over the last few days. They are looking at our comprehensive and strategic approach to how we support them with their concerns about the hunger of their citizens, about terrorism and their worries about arms now moving down from Libya into the Sahel. They need a comprehensive approach to help them do this and that means thinking about how to support them in a security way as well.
We have also got to remember that the European Defence Agency is working collaboratively with NATO. Again, improvised explosive devices are a problem that affects not only our servicemen and women from all over the world in Afghanistan, but in many other parts of the world too. If you can provide a joined-up way of actually looking at how you can identify where those explosive devices might be, who might have made them, the kind of signature that is left by those who make bombs of different kinds, if you can do that, you can save lives everywhere. So if this is done by people who can provide the expertise working together, it seems to me an effective use of time, effort and resources.
I agree with those who say we also need to think about cyber defence and the importance of how we might respond to that. In this regard, we have been approached by the US Deputy Secretary of Defence to work with them because one of the challenges in cyber defence is that it does not stop at Member State borders, but works across them. Many of the industries and businesses who are most challenged by cyber defence are European as regards their outlets, factories and businesses. They often are a combination of different countries’ businesses working together. So it is logical to try to think of things across the European Union when that makes greater sense."@en1
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