THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
A Force for the EU and NATO photo: © Eurocorps
Eurocorps is a concrete contribution to the security of Europe and its allies
Interview with Lieutenant General Laurent Kolodziej, Commanding General Eurocorps, Strasbourg
T
he European: General, you are the 13th Commanding General of Eurocorps, a multinational army corps, highly respected for its military capabilities and performance in international operations. Today, Eurocorps is a major military force that benefits both the EU and NATO. Personally, this fills me with pride as I was the first German officer with operational responsibility for the establishment of the Eurocorps headquarters in the 1990s. When my French counterpart, Colonel François Clerc, and I raised the European flag in the courtyard of the newly founded headquarters on 1st July 1992, we somehow dreamed that we were laying the foundation of a sort of European army, which seems unrealistic today, since a European army would trigger endless cultural, legal and administrative problems that would be unsolvable at present. General, how do you see Eurocorps? As part of a vision for a European army or as a concrete pillar of European Strike Forces? General Kolodziej: Eurocorps was founded in 1993 as a first step towards a European defence system. At the time, and this has not changed significantly today, the goal was to create a military unit that could make a concrete contribution to the security of Europe. In my opinion, it was particularly important to the founding fathers to set a clear signal for Europe on one hand without, on the other hand, creating a structure that is out of
touch with reality, but one that can make a concrete contribution within NATO, the European Union and the Framework Nations. That is why Eurocorps was assigned the task of leading the entire military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina only five years after its foundation. We assumed a similar task in 2015/16, when Eurocorps was entrusted with planning and commanding the European Training Mission in the Central African Republic. In this sense, I see Eurocorps as a concrete contribution to the security of Europe and its partners. The European: If in your opinion multinational units – be it battalions, brigades, divisions or corps – are the most efficient means of shaping European forces, then the question also arises as to whether these units, with their high degree of readiness, should be specialised and perform only very specific tasks or whether their training qualifies them for deployment in ANY kind of operation. General Kolodziej: When I look at the missions in which Eurocorps has been deployed today, such as the NRF Standby Phase as Land Component Command, the European Training Missions or the upcoming missions such as the NATO Joint Headquarters role, my conclusion is that in order to meet today's security requirements, Eurocorps must be flexibly deployable. In other words, it must be
order to meet today's “Insecurity requirements, Eurocorps must be flexibly deployable.”
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