Berlin Plus

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The Berlin Plus Agreement is an agreement on relations between NATO and the EU .

General

The Berlin Plus Agreement forms the basis for joint (military) action between NATO and the EU and is therefore a milestone in bilateral relations. The aim is to reduce disputes over competence in order not to unnecessarily burden one's own capacities.

The objectives of the agreement are as follows:

  • Exchange of secret information (NATO-EU security agreement)
  • Use of NATO planning capabilities in an EU-led operation
  • Provision of the NATO command structure for EU-led missions
  • Legal processes for releasing, monitoring, returning and reclaiming NATO capacities
  • the tasks and guidelines of the deputy NATO- SACEUR (deputy of the military commander-in-chief of NATO, who is always a US-American), a European (!) who has the supreme command of EU operations that take place under Berlin Plus
  • the rules for NATO-EU consultation

The actual agreement looks like this:

  1. NATO has the right to first access what is recognized by the EU. This means that if the worst comes to the worst, NATO can intervene first, provided this has been decided by politics.
  2. The EU can only fall back on NATO capacities for a mission if the North Atlantic Alliance as a whole is not engaged.
  3. Due to existing capability gaps, the EU can only carry out demanding missions by using NATO capacities, which means that the mission is led by the Deputy SACEUR, the so-called DSACEUR.

historical development

  • June 1996: The NATO Council adopts the Berlin resolutions.
  • December 2002: NATO and the EU agree on a contractual safeguarding of the Berlin resolutions.
  • March 13, 2003: NATO and the EU agree with "Berlin Plus" on a basis for EU military action in the event of NATO non-intervention.
  • December 2003: The EU sets up a permanent cell at the NATO headquarters SHAPE , NATO a liaison office in the EU Military Staff (EUMS) .

evaluation

If one evaluates Berlin Plus , it appears that the European Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) of the EU is dependent on NATO. If you want to put it that way, NATO has the prerogative to intervene in conflicts. According to the agreement, the EU would have to bow to this and thus downgrade itself to a second-class player. This can also be seen from the fact that you sometimes need the capacities and capabilities of NATO (which does not necessarily mean that there is a lack of your own troops) to carry out your own mission. These facts do not speak in favor of an independent or independent foreign and security policy.

From the side of NATO and thus from the point of view of the USA one can judge Berlin Plus in such a way that one keeps the EU in its efforts to build up its own crisis reaction forces, which could represent a kind of competition with NATO. A possible detachment of many European NATO states from this path to the CSDP would mean an unnecessary antithesis to the US-dominated NATO policy and thus a weakening of the North Atlantic alliance. On the positive side, as you can hear from the official side, you can say that NATO and the EU are moving closer together and that a large and strong global player is emerging. This would relieve the NATO and EU states, which otherwise feel torn between the two organizations. A closer cooperation or pooling of military resources saves management personnel, troops, equipment, devices and ultimately money, which everyone involved should be interested in. As a result, Berlin Plus increases the active ability of the EU to act, as additional NATO resources allow you to use your own resources, e.g. B. the EU Battlegroups supported.

According to a pragmatic assessment, the decades of building up its own military planning staffs for the CSDP as well as the billions in investments in NATO-independent and redundant (duplicating) planning staffs would ensure that an effective CSDP would not be achieved. Using the possibilities of the Berlin Plus thus increases the effectiveness of the EU, which can use their resources independently of the other NATO countries without building an "ad hoc" parallel, expensive and ultimately not feasible system with today's tight budgets (the Non-NATO countries Sweden and Austria as well as France, which traditionally strives for independence or separation from the USA, are nevertheless particularly strong supporters of independent structures for the CSDP).

Despite all of this, Berlin Plus complies with the European Security Strategy (ESS). Europe is deepening its cooperation with other organizations, in this case NATO, and nations, in this case the USA and Canada.

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