What Legitimacy for the EUROCORPS?

Which Legtimacy for the Eurocorps? Interview with Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch, Commanding General of Eurocorps, Strasbourg

The European – Security and Defence Union: General Pitarch, the Eurocorps celebrated 15 years of existence on 4th October 2008. Is there reason to celebrate?

General Pitarch: Of course, there is reason to celebrate: Eurocorps is a success story, not only in terms of military capabilities, but also in terms of political-military relevance. More than ever, and may be due to the continuous development of ESDP, Eurocorps is considered one of the main military units in Europe.

The European – Security and Defence Union: But has the pioneering spirit of the first years been kept up? After all, the name "Eurocorps" was deliberately chosen in order to overcome borders and harmonize national demands.

General Pitarch: Since its foundation Eurocorps has never given up progressing and developing its capabilities. It has never been in a static configuration. If one compares Eurocorps then and now, the transformation is huge: at that time it was designed as a heavy army corps, for high intensity conflicts. Yet Eurocorps has permanently adapted its structure and equipment to become now a very versatile and agile headquarters, able to deploy anywhere, at any moment on order of our nations. Indeed Eurocorps has already been selected three times for missions in theatres of the most demanding type such as Afghanistan, and Eurocorps was the land headquarters that allowed the Alliance to pronounce the full operational capability of the NATO Response Force in 2006.

The European – Security and Defence Union: The founder nations developed common regulations, procedures and methods designed to allow creating maximum interoperability and being open for new partners. In which form these new partners have indeed come into existence?. How does Eurocorps function after all?

General Pitarch: Since the mid-90s, three other countries have joined Germany and France as Eurocorps core nations: Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg. These five countries form the Eurocorps Framework Nations, which means they are the ones that own this major unit. Moreover, I can read from time to time that Eurocorps includes some liaison officers. This definitely belongs to the past: Eurocorps is today reinforced by staff personnel from Austria, Greece, Turkey and Poland. The latter has recently even reinforced its contribution and has applied to become Eurocorps sixth Framework Nation. Regarding the reality of Eurocorps, I would say that I am pretty impressed. In

General Pedro Pitarch Commanding General of the Eurocorps, Strasbourg,France. Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch gratuated from the Military Academy of Zaragoza as a first Lieutenant. From 1990 to 1994 advisor to the Prime Minister for international defence and security issues. In 1998 advisor to the PM for planning and implementation of the professionalisation of Spanish Forces. Brigadier General in 1999 resonsible in MOD Madrid for NATO, WEU, EU and OSCE . 2002 ACOS Logistics in Shape, Mons as a Major General before returning 2004 to Madrid as the Policy Director of MOD Madrid. He became head of the Spanish land forces in 2006 and was then nominated Commanding General of the Eurocorps on 21.September 2007.

fact, in contrast to most other headquarters of that level, no single nation can claim to run Eurocorps by itself. Everything is based on a common will, which consists in sharing the responsibilities while sharing the burdens as well. In concrete terms, Eurocorps headquarters comprises approximately 1000 persons and all the necessary assets to command and control a force of up to 65,000 soldiers.

The European – Security and Defence Union: Thus, the core elements of the Eurocorps are your Staff, a Headquarters Support Battalion and the French-German Brigade in Müllheim on the other side of the river Rhine. But what structures does Eurocorps form part of?

General Pitarch: In fact, Eurocorps does not have only the French-German Brigade under its operational command. Eurocorps commands a multinational command support brigade as well. This unit is one of our masterpieces as its mission is to get our command posts up and running. The great strength of Eurocorps is the fact that it is the shared property of five Framework Nations. Eurocorps can be put at the disposal of the EU, the NATO or the UN, whenever our nations decide to. In terms of military command and control, Eurocorps is under the command of the Chiefs of Defence of our Framework Nations, while simultaneously maintaining close links with the NATO command structure and the EU, too.

The European – Security and Defence Union: Certainly, lacking military command and control structures of the European Union are one reason why there are only "light" links to the EU. And, of

The Editor in Chief of The European - Security and Defence Union, Hartmut Bühl, inter viewing the Commanding General of the Eurocorps, Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch, at the Headquaters in Strasbourg.

course, the EU is no alliance. Are there any agreements with the EU? To what extent do you cooperate with the EU Military Staff?

General Pitarch: The links with the EU are developing in parallel with the development of the military side of ESDP. A closer cooperation has started in 2008 and I hope it will be further intensified: Eurocorps is already contributing to EUMS exercises with staff personnel, and Eurocorps members are attending courses organized by the EU in order to deepen their knowledge in this field.

The European – Security and Defence Union: As an operational headquarters, Eurocorps is available at any time for employment in operations. Are the agreements signed in the early 90s with NATO and WEU as defence alliances still relevant? Does Eurocorps feel "integrated" in any way as a result of these agreements?

General Pitarch: HQ Eurocorps has been certified by NATO both as High Readiness Force Headquarters and as Response Force Land Headquarters. Three times we have been committed in NATO operations so far. So, cooperation between Eurocorps and NATO is working perfectly. With regard to the WEU, I would like remind you of the fact that the WEU has transferred its capabilities to the EU a few years ago. Eurocorps is already included in the EU Force Catalogue as an Army Corps. Our nations are currently considering assigning a greater role to Eurocorps with regard to the EU.

The European – Security and Defence Union: Now the EU Parliament is after you, if I may express this in this way. Not a single week passes in which the Chairman of the Sub-Committee for Security and Defence picks up the Eurocorps topic in speeches or in written form in Brussels. Mr. Karl von Wogau, Member of the European Parliament, the Chairman, wants to create a close affiliation of Eurocorps to the EU and, thus, rights of fast access in the event of forthcoming military operations. How could that work, and what pre-requisites would have to be created in terms of organisation?

General Pitarch: On the 5th of June this year, the European Parliament passed a resolution (by a vast majority) that proposed placing Eurocorps as a standing force under EU command and invited all member states to contribute to it. This is an event of major importance for Eurocorps members. No other military unit of its level can claim to have such backing and legitimacy. With regard to closer links between the EU and Eurocorps, I do not see it as a technical issue. Considering our corporate culture, we are used to consensus, and considering our military capabilities, I do not know any other headquarters that has such a lot of command and control equipment at hand. All the more, Eurocorps is currently adapting its structure in order to make it more efficient when deployed. Frankly, the implementation of the European Parliament resolution would not constitute a big challenge for us, but it is up to our Framework Nations to decide what to do, when the time has come.

The European – Security and Defence Union: What attitude do the nations have towards this issue?

General Pitarch: As the resolution of the European Parliament is a recommendation to all EU member states, this has to be discussed among the Eurocorps Framework Nations and any other nations that show an interest.

The European – Security and Defence Union: Are there deliberations and discussions going on at the national levels, particularly under the aspect that the existing EU Battle Groups yet to be created do not meet all the demands placed on rapid reaction forces with modern equipment?

General Pitarch: The Eurocorps is not directly involved, at least for the time being, in this process. Nevertheless everybody can see that European Defence is generating a dynamic process of creation or transformation of units all over Europe, in order to give them capabilities usable by the EU. This interest is very positive and encourages those who promote the idea of a stronger European Defence. Nevertheless, sooner or later those defence tools will have to be organized and rationalized, in order to give to the European Union a good overview of its effective military capabilities.

regarding interoperability within the Brigade itself and with other combat units?

The European – Security and Defence Union: It seems that everything is still open in this field. Let me therefore come down to the military level and ask you about the experience the Euro - corps has in operational deployments. Up to now, the Eurocorps has only been "on the road" for NATO, being integrated into the operational structures of the Alliance. Where has the Corps taken part in operations, and what experience have you gained in the field of command and control? General Pitarch: Eurocorps has been committed three times: in Bosnia, in Kosovo and in Afghanistan. Both in Kosovo and Afghanistan, Eurocorps took over the command in the theatre. When deployed in Afghanistan, Eurocorps supported the UN in the organisation of the first democratic presidential election in the history of this country. The NATO Response Force certification exercise in 2006 was very challenging: Eurocorps had to deploy all its command and control assets to Cape Verde, off the African coast. Eurocorps personnel are rather discreet; they do not make a fuss of their achievements. But I do not know if there are so many headquarters of our level that have deployed all their command and control assets to a place so far from their home base. Therefore, the real strength of Eurocorps is not its communication policy. It is its experience, background and capability. The European – Security and Defence Union: And what about the experience made by the French-German Brigade itself – after all it is a high-readiness unit. Is it equipped the way you as the superior commander would like to? And what is the situation General Pitarch: Eurocorps has already deployed to - gether with the French-Ger - man Brigade at the time of the Afghanistan mission. The results are obvious. The current level of equipment of the French-German bri - gade is absolutely im - pressive, mainly when looking at its new command and control information system, or at its ar tillery battalion. In my view, interoperability is currently not a concern, as our nations are making large efforts to maintain a good interoperability between Eurocorps and its subordinate units. Every year, we organize a specific exer - cise for the sole purpose of checking the interoperability between the respective communication assets of our Framework Nations. In that field, Eurocorps has developed an invaluable experience. But this is a constant effort. I would like to add that, as for multinational cooperation and integration, the FrenchGerman Brigade is a jewel that should be preserved and looked after. The European – Security and Defence Union: Let me come back to the starting point. Fifteen years of Eurocorps. It has stood the test, and still it has become a little bit forgotten? If you had the chance to express a wish for your corps, what would that be? General Pitarch: The recent developments of European defence perfectly show that Eurocorps is in the vanguard of military capa - bilities in Europe. While most countries are considering possibilities of making savings and are withdrawing some of their personnel from other headquarters, Eurocorps is, on the contrary, in an expansion phase: Italy, Romania and the USA will join the Euro - corps staff within the next few months. Fur ther more, Poland has officially applied to become Eurocorps 6th Framework Nation, which, if endorsed by our Framework Nations, would constitute an event of major importance: the territorial base of Eurocorps would then cover an area ex pan ding from the Canary Islands to the Russian western bor der. I wish that Eurocorps would continue progressing on its path of increasing multinational potential and increasing relevance in the framework of European Defence. Briefing for the Commanding General of the Eurocorps about the situation during a manouver.