Finland decides to take part in German-Dutch EU battle group

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Finland has decided to take part in a rapid deployment force of the European Union led by Germany. The Netherlands will also be supplying troops for the force.
      President Tarja Halonen and the government’s committee on foreign and defence policy decided on the matter at a meeting on Wednesday morning. The initiative came from Germany and The Netherlands.
      Already last spring the President and the government decided that Finland would set up an EU battle group together with Sweden. The two countries would like to get Norway, which is not a member of the EU, to participate as well. A decision by Norway could come on Monday next week.
     
Finland plans to commit slightly different types of forces to the two units. The Nordic rapid deployment force would have about 200 Finnish soldiers, and the German-Dutch-Finnish battle group would have about 130, which is somewhat more than originally planned.
      The Nordic force would be under Swedish command, and the other force would be commanded by Germany.
     
Under preliminary plans, the Finnish role in the German-led force would be that of "force protection"; the Finnish soldiers would protect the EU battle group and its staff headquarters in a crisis area.
      Military police and special forces would have guard duty. In addition, Finland would contribute surveillance and electronic warfare equipment, and soldiers trained to use the devices.
      Finnish soldiers in the German-led force would not have heavy weaponry.
     
The Swedish-led battle group would include Finnish soldiers specialised in dealing with attacks using biological and chemical weapons, as well as a field laboratory. The force would also have staff officers, maintenance personnel, and military police, as well as an artillery group armed with mortars.
      The greatest contribution to this force would be from Sweden, which would commit about 1,000 soldiers to the effort.
     
Finland has about 1,000 peacekeeping soldiers in different parts of the world, and there is no intention of increasing that number.
      The EU rapid deployment forces would be ready for deployment for six months at a time. Under the plan, the soldiers committed to the two different forces would not be on standby at the same time.
      The soldiers taking part in the force would be on contract for one or two years at a time, and would be obliged to take part in an operation if the order for deployment comes while they are on standby.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Britain not to join Finnish-Swedish EU force (15.10.2004)
  Finland and Sweden agree to set up common EU military force (5.10.2004)
  Finland and Sweden to set up joint EU rapid action military force (7.9.2004)

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