17 Amendments of Geoffrey VAN ORDEN related to 2012/2223(INI)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Lisbon Treaty introduced Article 42(7) TEU (‘mutual defence clause’ or ‘mutual assistance clause’6 ) and Article 222 TFEU (‘solidarity clause’) to address such concerns, but the practical implementation of these articles still needs to be clarified, almost three years after the Treaty entered into force; whereas these should not be confused with the North Atlantic Treaty Article 5, which assures collective defence of NATO allies;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E – footnote 6
Recital E – footnote 6
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Notes that Member States can make use of all relevant Treaty provisions, including the mutual assistance clause and the solidarity clause, to assure mutual solidarity and wide support in tackling any overwhelming incident that might threaten the security of any Member State;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out the wide array of instruments available to the Union and the Member States to face exceptional occurrences in a spirit of solidarity, such as the Civil Protection Mechanism, the Solidarity Fund, and the possibility to grant economic and financial support in cases of severe difficulties, as provided for in Article 122 TFEU; also recalls the commitment to develop mutual political solidarity in foreign and security policy in accordance with Article 24 TEU; stresses that the purpose of the mutual defence and solidarity clauses is not to replace any of these instruments, but to complement them in view of situations of extraordinary threat or damage, and in particular when response will require high-level political coordination and the involvement of theliaison with national militaryies;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises the importance of deterrence, and therefore the need for European countries to possess credible military capabilities; encourages Member States to step up their efforts oncarefully consider areas in which collaborative military capability development might add value, notably through the complementary ‘Pooling and Sharing’ and ‘Smart Defence’ initiatives of the EU and NATO, which represent a critically n important way ahead in times of restrained defence budgets;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Reiterates its call for systematicthat any moves towards harmonisation of military requirements and a harmonised EU defence planning and acquisition process, matching up to the EU's level of ambition and coordinated with the NATO Defence Planning Process; taking into account the increased level of security guarantees provided by the mutual defence clause, encourages the Member States to consider multinational cooperation on capability development and, where appropriate, specialisation as core principles of their defence planninges should be undertaken through the NATO Defence Planning Process, or bilaterally between Member States;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Takes the view that, where collective action is taken to defend a Member State under attack, it should be possible to make use of existing EU crisis management structures where appropriate, and in particular that the possibility of activating an EU Operational Headquarters should be envisaged; stresses that a fully-fledged permanent EU Operational Headquarters is needed to ensure an adequate level of preparedness and rapidity of response, and reiterates its call on the Member States to establish such a permanent capacity, building on the recently activated EU Operations Centre;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls that, if a Member State is the victim of a terrorist attack or of a natural or man-made disaster, the Union and the Member States have an obligation to act jointly in a spirit of solidarity to assist it, at the request of its political authorities, and that the Union shall in such cases mobilise all the instruments at its disposal, including the national military resources made available by the Member States; recalls also the Union's obligation to mobilise all the instruments at its disposal to prevent terrorist threats in the EU and to protect democratic institutions and the civilian population from any terrorist attack;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Notes the ongoing work to implement the Internal Security Strategy, in particular in the areas of counter- terrorism, the fight against cybercrime and increasing resilience to crises and disasters; sStresses that the implementation of the solidarity clause is not only a matter of setting up procedures for the moment a major crisis happens, but is fundamentally about capacity building, prevention and preparedness; recalls the relevance of crisis management exercises, tailored for specific contingencies covered by the clause;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Stresses that the EU needs to possess capable crisis response structures with 24/7 monitoring and response capacity, able to provide early warning and up-to-date situation awareness to all relevant actorre are already complex, and duplicative, capable crisis response structures; notes that there is a multitude of EU-level monitoring centres, and that this raises questions of efficient coordination in the event of complex, multidimensional crises; notes the establishment of the Situation Room within the European External Action Service, as well as the existence of a number of sectoral monitoring centres within Commission departments and specialised EU bodies; draws attention, in particular, to the Monitoring and Information Centre of DG ECHO, the Strategic Analysis and Response Capability of DG HOME, the Health Emergency Operations Facility of DG SANCO and the situation room of Frontex;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Takes the view that the wide array of potential crises, from floods to nuclear accidents to bioterrorism, inevitably requires a wide spectrum of specialised services and networks, the merging of which would not necessarily lead to greater efficiency; considers, at the same time, that all specialised services at EU level should be integrated within a single secured information system, and invites the Commission and the Vice-President / High Representative to work on strengthening the ARGUS internal coordination platform;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Points out that, in the current global environment where interdependencies are multiplying, major crises on a scale that would justify the triggering of the solidarity clause are likely to be multidimensional and have an international dimension, with respect to third country nationals affected by them or to international action needed to respond to them; stresses the important role to be played by national diplomatic services and the EEAS in such cases;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Stresses that any decision-making process in the Council following a request for assistance under the solidarity clause must not be detrimental to EU reactivity, and that crisis response through the existing mechanisms, such as the Civil Protection Mechanism, must be able to start immediately, irrespective of such political decision; points out to the fact that the use of military assets to support civil protection operations is already possible on operational level without the activation of the solidarity clause, as evidenced by the successful cooperation between the Commission and the EU Military Staff on past operations in Pakistan or Libya;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37