Petersberg-Tasks

: WEU meeting in Marseille. The WEU originally set out the "Petersberg-Tasks." (Photo: French Presidency Web-site)

Petersberg-Tasks

A list of security, defence and peacemaking tasks, originally set out by the Western European Union (WEU) in June 1992.

The Lisbon Treaty provides for that the Petersberg tasks include a "post-conflict-stabilisation-programme" and the fight against terrorism.

The Petersberg tasks may be undertaken by EU's Rapid Reaction Force. This force is directed by EU’s Political and Security Committee, a body created by the Treaty of Nice. There must be unanimity in the Council for the EU to undertake one of the Petersberg tasks.

The Convention on the Future of Europe wanted the constructive abstention procedure to be followed to overcome the difficulty of obtaining unanimity - this will allow states to abstain from involvement without preventing other states from acting.

Furthermore, both the draft Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty allow the use of enhanced and structured co-operation to fulfil the Petersberg tasks.

The tasks were first introduced into the TEU under the Amsterdam Treaty as a new EU competence, allowing the EU to act.

These tasks do not require an explicit UN mandate. They "include humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking."

Peacekeeping implies that peace exists between two former or potential combatants. The EU can then take steps to maintain the peace, for example, by contributing soldiers to a UN peacekeeping operation. The terms crisis-management and peacemaking are not defined precisely, but may involve military operations.

Notes

The "Petersberg" tasks are named after the Petersberg mountain hotel outside Bonn, Germany, where the 1992 Council meeting took place.

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