Date of release : 18-03-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Event : Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers

During the press conference after the informal meeting of Ministers for Defence, Luc Frieden, Luxembourg Minister for Defence, discussed the role of military resources in natural disasters, in developmental aid and humanitarian aid in post-conflict situations:

"We discussed the role of the military and of military resources in the situation of a natural disaster, such as the one that took place in Asia in January. We discussed the lessons that we can draw from the aid contributed by the European Union in the region. We were satisfied with the positive role that the military resources were able to play, such as logistics support to the humanitarian operators in the region. In a situation of a natural disaster, the military has resources that are very useful to the traditional humanitarian actors. I am thinking of particular of military ships, military hospitals, airplanes, helicopters, all the equipment that was very useful in saving lives. I am convinced that European coordination in such situations must be strengthened even more. The European Union, including its military dimension, has a role to play.

We discussed the role of the military forces and their interaction with developmental aid. Our assessment is that we cannot have security without development and development without security. We do not think that the role of the armed forces tomorrow should be for developmental aid, there are other people who know how to do that better than the military. But there are points in common. The armed forces could complement certain actions in certain situations. This could be the case in a natural disaster, this could also be the case in the area of developmental aid. The armed forces have certain resources (logistics, for example) that they could make available to those who are engaged in developmental aid.

Another dimension, and I would like to see a coordinated approach here, is that the armed forces could be useful after crisis management. In this context, it is indispensable that humanitarian aid be able to take over as rapidly as possible in order to ensure the smooth transition between the departure of the military presence and the beginning of the humanitarian presence. The European Union presents an integrated approach through its external trade policy, the CFSP, the ESDP, developmental aid, humanitarian aid that can play a role in exceptional post conflict situations."