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EU: Greece draws up requirements for member state militaries' role in border control

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20 October 2020

The Greek military's 'Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center' has prepared an analysis of training requirements for the military's role in integrated border management operations. Although the report acknowledges that border control is primarily a civilian task, it says that more training should be given to armed forces in the EU, and that the EU should adopt a 'Common Core Curriculum' on the issue.

The document was approved by the European External Action Service at the end of May and forwarded to the Council for discussion by the EU Military Committee (EUMC).

The EUMC was invited to approve the 'Common Core Curriculum' proposed in the report - the contents of which are set out below, and which is included in full in the document itself - so that it become part of the training requirements for all EU member state militaries. It is unclear whether the document has been approved or not.

One of the conclusions says that EU member states' militaries could learn from those member states that have been "confronted with the problem of mass migration which raised security issues many times so far."

See: Training Requirements Analysis Report on the EU Military Training Discipline - (Military Role in) Integrated Border Management (Council doc. 8506/20, EEAS doc. EEAS(2020) 256 REV5, 2 June 2020, pdf):

"D. MAIN FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

11. DL ["Discipline Leader"] concluded that training in IBM [integrated border management] remains an area predominantly civilian, with FRONTEX being the leading agency for providing this specialised training.

12. Furthermore, DL concluded that IBM remains one of the complex disciplines with the military being in a supporting role. On the other hand, there are MS which use the military as the only body performing the IBM function. This diversity in approach led the DL to include in CCC [common core curriculum] all the initially identified modules and all the levels of the respective audiences (political-strategic, strategic, operational and tactical), in order to cover the needs of all MS.

13. Military training in the area of IBM remains an important need, and this training is to be covered by the modules included and described in CCC; in all the cases, the military may contribute to specific emergency contexts. Furthermore, DL identified that the military is used in many ways in IBM, different from one MS [member state] to another.

14. More initiatives have to be taken towards a more unified and consolidated military training activities in IBM, especially from those EU-MS confronted with the problem of mass migration which raised security issues many times so far.

15. A Common Core Curriculum has been elaborated by the DL and is included in Annex B.

16. This Curriculum, consisting of nine modules, covers the following areas:

• EU security policy, IBM doctrine, Political-Strategic Planning and Strategic Cooperation in IBM under CSDP [Common Security and Defence Policy] concept
• Operational planning and Organizational Development in IBM
• International, EU and Member States Legal Framework
• Crisis Management in IBM
• Multi-dimension control approaching IBM
• Cooperation and information sharing in IBM
• Innovation and Technology in IBM
• Cross-cultural approach of IBM
• Best management practices, Evaluation and Research process in IBM."

See: Training Requirements Analysis Report on the EU Military Training Discipline - (Military Role in) Integrated Border Management (Council doc. 8506/20, EEAS doc. EEAS(2020) 256 REV5, 2 June 2020, pdf)