VZCZCXRO5286
PP RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHBS #1370/01 2481403
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 041403Z SEP 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA PRIORITY
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM PRIORITY
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI PRIORITY
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI PRIORITY
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA PRIORITY
RUEHTH/USDAO ATHENS GR PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHRL/USDAO BERLIN GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHMD/USDAO MADRID SP PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEHRO/USDAO ROME IT PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHTC/USDAO THE HAGUE NL PRIORITY
RUEHLO/USDAO LONDON UK PRIORITY
RUEHFR/USDAO PARIS FR PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001370 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2018 
TAGS: ESDP MCAP PREL PTER FR UK EUN
SUBJECT: ANTI-PIRACY: UK MISSION TO EU VIEWS ON THE STATE 
OF PLAY 
 
Classified By: Classified by USEU POLMINCOUNS Christopher Davis, for re 
asons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: (C/NF) The UK is deliberately delaying further 
formal EU consideration of an anti-piracy mission off the 
coast of Somalia according to the UK's Deputy Military 
Representative to the EU Military Committee.  Air Commodore 
Bob Tizard (protect) told USEU on 3 September that the UK had 
asked in the Military Committee (MC) for more specific 
information regarding costs, coordination, and command & 
control be provided before the MC gives its military advice 
on the Military Strategic Options (MSO) under consideration 
or indeed on additional MSOs.  An EU Fact-Finding Mission 
will go to the region in the next two weeks and will seek 
discussions with US and US-led activities in the area.  The 
British are perplexed at the French drive to establish an 
autonomous ESDP naval operation in this instance as their 
behavior is counter to their recent rhetoric in the French 
White Book on Defense and their EU Presidency pronouncements. 
 END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (C/NF) Air Commodore Bob Tizard, RAF, Deputy UK MilRep to 
the EU (please protect), in a phone conversation in the late 
afternoon of 3 Sep 08 (after the EU Military Committee 
meeting), told USEU Defense Advisor that the UK was 
successful in tabling a Supplemental Paper in the debate on 
an ESDP mission to conduct anti-piracy operations of the 
coast of Somalia.  The Supplemental Paper requires the EU 
Military Staff (EUMS) and the Council General Secretariat 
(CGS) to develop additional Military Strategic Options (MSO) 
for further debate in the Political and Security Committee 
(PSC).  This action effectively moves any consideration by 
the PSC of an ESDP mission to October.  Tizard said the 
current MSO did not contain any analysis on costs, on 
coordination with external actors (e.g. CTF-150), or on 
command and control arrangements; failings he attributed to 
the heavy hand of Claude-France Arnould, the French director 
of the CGS's Defense Aspects of ESDP office. 
 
¶3.  (C/NF) The way ahead for the EU, according to Tizard, 
will involve a Fact-Finding Mission going to Djibouti and 
Bahrain in the next two weeks where they hope to meet with US 
and CTF-150 officials.  The EUMS is to have a response to the 
Supplemental Paper with draft military advice by 29 Sep 08 so 
that it can be sent forward to the PSC for consideration of a 
Joint Action and an Initiating Military Directive (IMD) in 
October.  The UK hopes this delayed process will give more 
time for the EU to review the state of play in the area given 
that CTF-150's intervention and  national contributions (to 
include a Malaysian announcement of the dispatching of one 
warship and one support vessel to the area) have altered the 
conditions upon which the French initially justified an EU 
force for the mission (justification which he said started 
last March).  In addition, the UK hopes that during the lull 
concerted British and US efforts in Paris will remove the 
French block in NATO, which will then provide even more 
rationale for abandoning an autonomous EU effort given the 
impending deployment to the region by a Standing NATO 
Maritime Group (SNMG).  Basically, should the EU see that the 
WFP ships are protected and perhaps, that the WFP is able to 
use ever larger ships in its operations due to the increased 
security provided by other actors, any support for an 
autonomous operation will wither. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) The UK is perplexed by the French position. 
According to Tizard, the Elyse, the French MoD, General 
Bentegat, the French Chairman of the EU Military Committee, 
and Tizard's EU French counterpart, have all told the UK the 
French are not/not interested in taking on this additional 
task.  General Bentegat pointedly said that French can't 
afford it.  Nevertheless, he said, the French PSC rep 
 
BRUSSELS 00001370  002 OF 002 
 
 
Christine Rogier continues to push hard for the French 
proposal for an autonomous ESDP mission, and the French 
delegation at NATO continues to block a tasking to NATO 
Military Authorities.  The French, he said, also told the UK 
that they had pushed for passage of UNSCR 1816 to set the 
scene for an autonomous ESDP operation.  In Tizard's 
seemingly well-informed opinion, there are ambitious people 
in Paris who want to see this pre-Georgia crisis goal of the 
French presidency through to the end regardless as the French 
have shown no overt interest in shelving or reducing this 
initiative until after the crisis period has passed.  It 
seems to Tizard that the French are behaving as if this 
initiative is "almost their final act" as EU president.  The 
UK and Air Commodore Tizard personally, are particularly 
perplexed by the French approach given the pronouncements in 
the French White Book on Defense and FM Kouchner's speech at 
the NATO-EU seminar in Paris exhorting everyone to 
complementarity and cooperation between NATO and the EU. 
 
¶5.  (C/NF) Although the Spanish, Germans, Greeks, Dutch and 
Italians also support the French initiative, Tizard pointed 
out that no one has stepped up to take on the command and 
control responsibilities for running and ESDP operation as a 
framework nation.  Without a framework nation with 
significant maritime capabilities to shore up any shortfalls 
in the mission, Tizard doesn't see how an autonomous ESDP 
operation could go forward.  Any Operation Commander working 
only out of the EU Ops Center would not have recourse to 
other assets and therefore little flexibility in executing 
the operation.  The UK would, according to Tizard, envision a 
small EU coordination cell co-located with other C2 
operations working in the area (e.g. CTF-150's) but doesn't 
believe the French would accept an EU cell in a NATO 
structure.  Tizard's bottom line on the internal EU debate on 
Command & Control options is that failure here to find a 
workable solution could kill the whole initiative. 
 
¶6.  (C/NF) He believes the Spaniard's only concern is their 
fishing fleet, which, in his view, is a national not EU issue 
and which, in any case, may be protected by the ships already 
in or en route.  The Italians share the same costs concerns 
as the UK.  Tizard noted that the UK is already the largest 
bilateral donor to Somalia in the EU and has, therefore, 
credibility when it says that Georgia is a higher priority 
for the EU's focus at this moment. 
 
SILVERBERG 
.