Thread by @morcos_pierre

[Thread] New 🧵 on the #StrategicCompass. Let’s explore another measure of the Compass: EU-backed coalitions of the willing (under article 44 TEU).

1/ What the #StrategicCompass says: "By 2023, we will decide on practical modalities for implementing Article 44 of the Treaty on EU to allow a group of willing and able Member States to plan and conduct a mission/operation within the EU framework".

So, the basic idea is to better use the flexibility offered by the EU treaties (article 44) to quickly launch 🇪🇺 operations undertaken by a group of willing and able European countries.

2/ What is article 44: Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, article 44 allows a group of Member States to be entrusted by the Council with the "implementation of a task", ie EU missions and operations.

In 2015, member states gave some indications on the implementation of art 44: unanimous adoption of the political mandate of the operation by the Council ; planification and force generation process by the coalition.
statewatch.org/media/document…

This mechanism has many advantages:
- a flexible planning process facilitating the rapid deployment of a CSDP operations
- compared to ad hoc operations, a political, legal and financial support of the EU (highly important for some member states)

3/ Was it ever used? No. This provision of the treaty has never been leveraged by member states. The reasons? Partly because article 44 has been forgotten. Partly because the actual modalities of its implementation were not clear enough for member states.

This can explain why European countries recently decided to launch ad-hoc operations instead of EU ones, as in the Strait of Hormuz. As I explained w/ @_EdgarTam for @WarOnTheRocks, "flexibility proved essential in swiftly launching the maritime mission".
warontherocks.com/2021/06/buildi…

4/ What would be different then? With the #StrategicCompass, there is now shared political ambition to harness the potential of article 44. This will lead to in-depth discussions to clarify how it could be activated in a way that it would offer more flexibility and reactivity.

In a 2016 report, @Clingendaelorg underlined that "the modalities of Art. 44 should be clarified and its implementation well prepared, for instance by including scenario-based discussions" to ensure its effective implementation.
clingendael.org/sites/default/…

In essence, as explained by @jana_puglierin, "article 44 is certainly no silver bullet, but it could still make it more attractive for member states to contribute forces and capabilities to 🇪🇺 operations." [End]
ecfr.eu/article/direct…