The Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) is a permanent operational headquarters (OHQ) at the military strategic level for military operations of up to 2500 troops (i.e. the size of one battle group) deployed as part of the

Common Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the dep ...

(CSDP) of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

(EU) by the end of 2020. Since its inception in 2017, the MPCC has commanded three non-executive training missions in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

and the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

, and will organise the training of Ukrainian forces on EU soil. The MPCC is part of the EU Military Staff (EUMS), a directorate-general of the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union (EU). The EEAS is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP), who is al ...

(EEAS), and the Director General of the EUMS also serves as Director of the MPCC - exercising command and control over the operations. Through the

Joint Support Coordination Cell The Joint Support Coordination Cell (JSCC) is the planned security and defence (CSDP) body of the European Union's (EU) European External Action Service (EEAS) that will provide for relations between the civilian and military planning and conduct ...

(JSCC), the MPCC cooperates with its civilian counterpart, the

Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability The Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) is the directorate of the External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union (EU) that serves as operational headquarters (OHQ) for the civilian missions of the Common Security and Defence ...

(CPCC). The MPCC is situated in the

Kortenberg building , former_names = , alternate_names = , image = 150kortenberg.jpg , alt = , caption = , altitude = , building_type = Office building , architectural_style = ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, along with a number of other CSDP bodies.

History

2016-2020: MPCC established for non-executive missions

In 2016, the

European Union Global Strategy The Global strategy for the foreign and security policy of the European Union, for short the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS), is the updated doctrine of the European Union to improve the effectiveness of the defence and security of the Unio ...

was adopted a British referendum was held and resulted in favour of UK withdrawal (Brexit). In its November 2016 Conclusions on implementing the Global Strategy in the area of security and defence, the Council of the EU invited High Representative Morgherini to propose ‘a permanent operational planning and conduct capability at the strategic level for non-executive military missions’ under political control and strategic direction of the

Political and Security Committee The Political and Security Committee (PSC; sometimes referred to by its French ''COPS'' acronym derived from ''Comité politique et de sécurité'') is a permanent body within the European Union dealing with Common Foreign and Security Policy issu ...

(PSC). On 8 June 2017, the Council of the European Union (EU) decided to establish a Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), albeit not permitted to run executive missions in order to avoid a British veto. A non-executive military mission is defined as an operation conducted in support of a host nation which has an advisory role only. In comparison to an executive military operation which is mandated to conduct actions in replacement of the host nation. Combat operations would fall into this category.

2020-: First mandate extension

EU officials have indicated that a review in 2018 might extend the MPCC's mandate to also include operations with combat elements - or so-called executive missions. Diplomats have also indicated that the MPCC will be 'rebranded' as the EU's Operational Headquarters (OHQ) after the British withdrawal from the Union, which was scheduled to happen on 31 October 2019. On 20 November 2018 the MPCC's mandate was expanded to include executive operations (i.e. with combat elements) also by the end of 2020. As such, the MPCC takes over role of the previous

European Union Operations Centre The European Union Operations Centre (EU OPCEN) was an ad-hoc, non-standing, non-commanding headquarters facilitating the planning and conduct of military operations deployed as part of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy ...

(EU OPCEN).

Second mandate extension

A further review of the MPCC's roles and responsibilities has also been agreed with a view to completion by the end of 2020. It is expected that the review will recommend the expansion of the MPCC's role even further and establish it as the EU military planning HQ that several member states have long hoped for and the UK has always opposed. This should be seen in connection with a Permanent Structured Cooperation project titled ''Strategic Command and Control System for CSDP Missions and Operations''. This aims to "improve the command and control systems of EU missions and operations at the strategic level. Once implemented, the project will enhance the military decision-making process, improve the planning and conduct of missions, and the coordination of EU forces. The Strategic Command and Control (C2) System for CSDP Missions will connect users by delivering information systems and decision-making support tools that will assist strategic commanders carry out their missions. Integration of information systems would include intelligence, surveillance, command and control, and logistics systems."

Structure

The MPCC is a single military strategic command and control structure, responsible for the operational planning and conduct of military missions of up to 2500 troops. This includes the building up, deployment, sustaining and recovery of EU forces. The MPCC will at present control the three EU training missions in Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia. The MPCC will be reporting to the

(PSC), and informing the EU Military Committee (EUMC). The MPCC will also cooperate with its existing civilian counterpart, the

(CPCC), through a

(JSCC). The MPCC has a maximum of 60 personnel, in addition to personnel seconded from member states.

Director

The Director General of the EUMS also serves as the Director of the MPCC and in that capacity assume the function of the single commander for all non-executive military missions, exercising command and control over the current three training Missions and other possible future non-executive military Missions. The current three Mission Commanders will become ‘Mission Force Commanders’ who will act under the command of the Director of the MPCC and will remain responsible for exercising military command authority on the ground. The Director of the MPCC will assume the same role, tasks and command relationships as those attributed to a military Operation Commander (OpCdr). He will also exercise the responsibilities related to deployment and recovery of the missions as well as overall budgeting, auditing and reporting.

References

External links

''EU defence cooperation: Council establishes a Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC)''

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

Factsheet 2017Factsheet 2018''EU military HQ to take charge of Africa missions''
EUobserver {{Common Security and Defence Policy European Union Military Staff Joint military headquarters