Delays hit rapid reaction force

The European rapid reaction force will not be operational by its scheduled date next year, senior defence officials have revealed.

Shortfalls in a range of important areas from transport to countering nuclear, biological and chemical threats mean that the proposed force will be delayed, and that a new date will have to be set.

An official report into the the European Capabilities Action Plan (ECAP) shows that member states have typically met only 104 of 144 capability targets.

Leaders of the European Union decided at a summit in Helsinki in December 1999 to set up a corps of 60,000, which could be deployed for up to 12 months at a time, within 60 days and with air and naval support. A year later, in Brussels, Alain Richard, the French Defence Minister at the time, described the plan as "a decisive moment for Europe's role in the world".

The force would undertake a variety of missions from humanitarian assistance to peace-keeping. The US was worried that the rapid reaction force might lead to the dismemberment of Nato. There was also opposition from a number of European countries, including Britain, that feared the force would mark another step towards a European "superstate".

The defence officials said that EU countries spent €180bn on defence, so there was no shortage of money available, but that there were problems with the way it was used. Some countries are unwilling to switch resources from national defence to the multinational force.

The ECAP report stresses that a shortfall "does not imply that no capabilities have been committed towards 40 remaining areas; it means that not enough forces have been offered, or that they do not all meet the required readiness levels".

The action plan is an attempt to rectify the shortfalls by offering "multinational solutions". However, individual member states must take the lead in projects, which has led to some curious arrangements. Portugal, for instance, has taken the lead in special operations forces, rather than Britain, Germany or France, which have far more experience in the field.