Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 9 January 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 15 January 2002. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 January 2002 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has been made of the upper range of possible Petersburg Tasks; what consultation there has been with other EU countries on Petersburg Tasks since 1992; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the upper range of possible Petersberg Tasks; what consultation there has been with other EU countries on Petersberg Tasks since 1992; and if he will make a statement. [26856] Mr. Hoon: The Petersberg Tasks, as defined at the Western European Council of Ministers in Bonn in June 1992 and subsequently adopted by the EU in the treaty of Amsterdam are: humanitarian and rescue tasks; peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. It is impractical to define precisely the upper range of such operations, as this will change depending on the circumstances at the time. The work carried out since Helsinki to elaborate the requirements of the Headline Goal has included as a working assumption a potential use of EU-led forces to separate warring factions.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 26856; 378 c125W;378 c123W
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Humanitarian aid EU common foreign and security policy Peacekeeping operations EU defence policy Petersberg tasks
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk