The EU Military Committee: Dissecting the Reference Body for Inter-state Military Consultation and Cooperation on Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management.
At the Helsinki European Council on 10 and 11 December 1999, EU heads of state and government laid the foundations for various permanent political and military bodies: the Political and Security Committee (PSC), the EU Military Committee and Committee for Civilian Crisis Management. In the short and medium term, these actors would enable the EU to enforce its responsibilities in conflict prevention and crisis management. The Council of Ministers of the then-existing Western European Union outlined such responsibilities in the June 1992 Petersberg Declaration. It included humanitarian and rescue tasks, peace-keeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management.