Poland, Germany, France Plot Joint Battlegroup
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 28 Jan 12:26 EST (17:26 GMT)
WARSAW - Top brass from Germany and its neighbors France and Poland met Jan. 28 in Warsaw to draw up plans for a joint battlegroup that is expected to be ready for action in crisis zones by 2013.
"The battalions are an important tool of crisis management for the European Union and demonstrate it is prepared to take responsibility in this important field," German Brigadier General Hans Weirmann said.
Poland, a member of NATO since 1999 and a member of the EU since 2004, will act as the so-called "framework state" in the Weimar-EU Battlegroup, responsible for its infrastructure. Germany and France are to provide support, Polish Brigadier General Anatol Wojtan said.
EU battlegroups consisting of 1,500 to 2,000 troops from various states work on the basis of six-month rotations during which they are ready for deployment to crisis zones, often supporting UN conflict resolution and humanitarian aid missions.
In 2006, defense ministers from Poland, Germany and France agreed to create an EU battlegroup known as the Weimar Triangle.
The Weimar Triangle itself is a group created after the 1989 collapse of communism in Poland to support its Western democratic orientation.
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