Uredba o ratifikaciji Tehničnega dogovora o delovanju večnacionalnih sil kopenske vojske (VSKV)

The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Defence of the Italian Republic and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Hungary (hereinafter referred to as »the Parties«),
    Stressing the political value of the Declaration of Intents on the creation of a Multinational Land Force signed by the Ministers of Defence on 13 November 1997 in Budapest;
    Underlining the importance of multinational military co-operation in order to enhance stability and peace in Europe;
    Confirming the aim of building strong co-operation in the military field based on mutual respect;
    Bearing in mind the possible roles that the Multinational Land Force may be called upon to play and connected predictability requirements;
    Recognizing the need for identifying organisational and operational procedures that provide military effectiveness to the Multinational Land Force:
    In order to facilitate the implementation of the Agreement among the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, the Government of the Italian Republic and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on the establishment of the Multinational Land Force (MLF) (hereinafter: Agreement), signed on 18 April 1998 in Udine hereby the Parties involved in the MLF project have agreed on the following mechanism of co-operation.

ARTICLE 1

PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE STEERING AND WORKING GROUPS OF THE ITALIAN, HUNGARIAN AND SLOVENIAN MULTINATIONAL LAND FORCE

a. INTRODUCTION
    In accordance with the Agreement, the Parties participating in the MLF have decided to set up a high level Political – Military Steering Group (PMSG) supported by a staff level Pol – Mil Working Group (PMWG).
    Both groups have the right to establish their own internal working rules and procedures.
    b. ROLE
    (1) Political – Military Steering Group
    The PMSG shall establish the conditions under which the MLF may be committed and for the operational employment and deployment of the MLF.
    In addition, the PMSG shall provide mutual information and coordination among the Parties on all matters relating to the MLF.
    In particular the PMSG shall:
    – be coordinated by a Chairman, rotating on a yearly basis and representing a different Party each time, appointed by the Parties;
    – be tasked with implementing the decision of Governments by preparing and issuing directives to the Commander MLF (COMMLF);
    – approve the training and logistic objectives, the annual calendar of training activities and all acts related to the MLF;
    – decide upon the activation of the MLF for training purposes or in the eventuality of an operation.
    (2) Political Military Working Group
    The PMWG shall provide support, as required, to the PMSG, including:
    – making recommendations to the PMSG for MLF tasking;
    – staffing the directives for the PMSG to issue to COMMLF through a designated Chain of Command;
    – acting as the focal point for discussion and recommendations on the evolution of the MLF;
    – preparing meetings.
    In particular, the tasks of the Working Group are as follows:
    – to study problems related to the MLF which lie within the competence of the national staffs;
    – to assess the soundness of the proposals formulated by the COMMLF;
    – to refer to the PMSG questions lying within their competence;
    – to prepare directives for MLF employment within their areas of concern or on the basis of instructions issued by the PMSG.
    c. COMPOSITION
    (1) Political – Military Steering Group
    The PMSG shall represent the Parties and shall comprise representatives of the Defence and Foreign Ministries.
    a) Italian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Chief of Defence General Staff or his delegate;
    – Director of Political Affairs (MFA) or his delegate;
    a) Hungarian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Chief of General Staff or his delegate;
    – Deputy State Secretary (MOD) or his delegate;
    – Deputy State Secretary (MFA) or his delegate.
    a) Slovenian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Chief of General Staff or his delegate;
    – State Secretary (MOD) or his delegate;
    – State Secretary (MFA) or his delegate.
    In time of crisis, consultation among the Parties shall be in accordance with national procedures. The composition of the PMSG may, therefore, be different, depending on the situation.
    (2) Political Military Working Group
    The PMWG shall comprise representatives of Foreign and Defence Ministries and Defence and Army General Staffs.
    (a) Italian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative;
    – Defence General Staff representatives;
    – Army General Staff representatives;
    (b) Hungarian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Ministry of Defence representative;
    – Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative;
    – General Staff representatives;
    – Army Staff representatives;
    (c) Slovenian elements
    They shall comprise:
    – Ministry of Defence representative;
    – Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative;
    – General Staff representatives.
    When discussing exclusively military matters, the PMWG can meet also in a configuration called the Military Working Group (MWG), without the MFA representatives.
    (d) Secretariat
    The Secretariat to the PMWG, provided and appointed by the Parties and coordinated by the Chief of Secretariat, rotating on a yearly basis and representing a different Party each time, shall also provide support, as required, to the PMSG.
    His duties shall include:
    – Making the necessary administrative arrangements for the staging of PMSG and PMWG meetings and being available at these meetings to provide administrative support;
    – Compiling and circulating an agenda before each meeting;
    – Taking minutes of meetings as required;
    – Preparing papers for the PMSG and the PMWG and circulating them as required.
    COMMLF could participate or be represented in the PMSG and PMWG. Additionally, experts may be called upon to advise on areas of specific interests.
    d. MEETINGS
    (1) Political – Military Steering Group
    The PMSG shall meet, in principle once a year or as required by one or more of the Parties.
    (2) Political Military Working Group
    The PMWG shall meet when necessary or as required by one or more of the Parties.
    Decisions and recommendations concerning the MLF shall be adopted by consensus in both groups.

ARTICLE 2

MLF STRUCTURE AND ACTIVATION PROCEDURES

a. Force level/type and organisational principles
    The force level identified for the MLF is the Brigade.
    Due to the geographical area and the type of missions in which the MLF is expected to operate, a basic configuration of light forces has been identified, which would be particularly suited to operate in operational theatres characterised by rugged terrain, uneasy or slow mobility ground and harsh climate conditions.
    The organisational concept envisages a Command and Control (C2) basic components provided by the leading Nation (ITALY).
    In addition to the C2 structure, Italy also provides Combat Supports and Combat Service Supports.
    b. Operational concept
    The MLF must be able to:
    – Perform the missions identified in article 1 of the Agreement;
    – Become integrated with the other forces if it is made available to NATO, WEU or other »ad hoc« Force Coalitions;
    – Be easily and readily able for projection;
    – Be self-sustainable to some extent.
    The performance of the above-mentioned missions must not compromise the participation of the MLF units in regular defence missions.
    Since the need to attain the required operational readiness could hardly be harmonised with the difficulties hindering the establishment of a standing integrated instrument, it is agreed that activities should be differentiated into two separate periods:
    (1) Non activated force
    – HU and SVN detach permanently two (2) officers each to the framework Nation Brigade HQ;
    – Periodic multilateral meetings are held among the commands of the units assigned by each Nation to the MLF;
    – Study periods, visits and exercises are carried out also by exchange of units (study periods, CPX and LIVEX);
    – The operation planning is prepared on the basis of the planning directives;
    – The units earmarked for the MLF remain subordinate to their national commands.
    (2) Activated force
    – The Staff of the framework Nation Brigade becomes multinational; in particular, Italy provides about 60 % of the Staff positions and Slovenia and Hungary about 20 % each;
    – The units selected amongst the earmarked units are placed under operational control (OPCON)* of COMMLF upon Transfer of Authority (TOA);
    – HU and SVN detach one liaison officer each to the Alpine Troops Command designated as »mounting Headquarters«**.
    c. Organisational concept
    In order to implement the operational concept, the Parties are to earmark the component units/elements that shall be appropriately combined and integrated in view of setting up the MLF.
    In particular, four (4) components must be available:
    (1) Command, control and communication component
    The Staff of the MLF Brigade includes: the Italian Brigade HQ and two officers from each other Party on a permanent basis.
    One of those officers is responsible for co-ordination of multinational activities in the fields of Intelligence, Training and Operations, while the other deals with all matters concerning Logistics including Medical support.
    Upon the activation of the MLF, the Brigade HQ becomes multinational through the inclusion of Slovenian and Hungarian personnel in all the cells of the Brigade Command Post.
    In particular, Slovenia and Hungary are to provide:
    – a Deputy Commander of the MLF, acting as the Senior National Representative (Colonel);
    – the Officers in charge of G 2 and G 5, rotating between HU and SVN on a yearly basis.
    Depending on the type of mission and the force organisation, specialists from the following cells may be included: fire support, mobility, counter-mobility, 3rd dimension, civil-military cooperation, psychological support, legal adviser, public information and provost marshal.
    The framework Nation Brigade shall also provide a Brigade HQ Support Battalion including a Signal Company which, while maintaining its national features, shall include elements from other Parties in order to ensure interoperability of Communications.
    Furthermore, a Military Police detachment with elements from all the Parties has to be activated in operations.
    (2) Combat Forces
    The MLF is based on three (3) infantry/mechanized regiments/battalions, one for each Party; they may be reinforced as required, by mechanized/armoured units on a case-by-case basis.
    (3) Combat Supports
    It includes an Artillery Regiment and an Engineer company, both provided by Italy. An Army Aviation unit may be included as required by the type of mission.
    (4) Combat Service Supports
    It shall be provided by a logistic battalion and a medical unit, both Italian. However, these units are to include such National Support Elements (NSE) from the Parties as are required in order to provide each national element with the logistic and medical support of national concern.
    The logistic support is provided by the actual force/personnel of the subunits making use of their national resources and local procurement and service facilities.
    The force projection and withdrawal is a national responsibility.
    d. MLF activation
    The MLF is a permanent pre-structured force on call: therefore, according to the information received by the Staffs of the Parties, the Commander of the designated framework Nation Brigade shall maintain an updated list on the units made available to the MLF, to be identified periodically by each Party.
    In particular, the Parties shall provide the specific units for each activity of the MLF for training or operational purposes and the force structure shall depend on the specific mission.
    Each Party shall be totally free to decide on its own unit participation in the MLF.
    The MLF operates as a single entity both during exercises and operations, being employed in the framework of an International Organisation (NATO, WEU or other Organisation) or autonomously. The chain of Command and Control of the MLF shall be established jointly by the National Authorities in consideration of specific employment of the force.
    In any case, the Alpine Troop Command shall be designated as »Mounting Headquarters«.
    The principal steps in MLF activation, in response to a real crisis process are as follows:
    – after having obtained proper political authorisation by the National Authorities, the Pol - Mil Steering Group (PMSG) should provide political – military guidance for the commitment of the MLF through the designated Command of Operation (COPER);
    – in the compliance with the PMSG political – military guidance and the operational plans and orders from the designated COPER, the Command of the Nation framework Brigade prepares or updates the contingency operational documents (CONOPS) required for the specific mission and forwards them to the PMSG through the COPER and the PMWG; the latter confirms the availability of the earmarked forces and encloses their comments, if any;
    – the PMSG approves the CONOPS and the MLF composition and issues the guidelines for the operation through an appropriate directive;
    – the framework Nation Brigade Commander prepares the Force Generation Request Message (FGRQ) for the National Authorities which reply by the Force Generation Response Message (FGRP) specifying the units that are being made available;
    – the Parties detach the reinforcements to the Brigade Command; upon TOA the reinforcing units pass under OPCON of the Brigade Commander;
    – the MLF is activated and the Brigade Commander becomes COMMLF; in this capacity he issues the appropriate directives and orders for the conduct of the operation.
    Training activities of the MLF are to be executed through approved yearly plans, which under the responsibility of the MWG, shall be coordinated with respective national military authorities.

ARTICLE 3

FINAL CLAUSES

a. Miscellaneous financial aspects, questions concerning the exchange of personnel and other administrative details shall be settled in separate specific technical arrangements.
    b. This Arrangement enters into force on the date of the receipt of the last notification of the Parties upon the fulfillment of their internal legal procedures.
    c. This Arrangement may be amended by the mutual consent of the Parties. The amendment shall be proposed in writing, through diplomatic channels and shall enter into force according to point b of this Article.
    d. This Arrangement shall remain in force for an unlimited period of time. This Arrangement may be terminated by either Party by written notification of the other Parties. It shall cease to be in force six months after the receipt of the notification of termination.
    In witness whereof, the undersigned Representatives, duly authorised by their respective Governments, have signed this Arrangement.
    Done in Ljubljana on 21. October 1999 in three originals in English language.

* Operational control (OPCON): the authority delegated to a Commander to direct forces assigned so that the Commander may accomplish specific missions or tasks which are usually limited by function, time or location, to deploy units concerned, and to retain or assign tactical control of those units. It does not include authority to assign separate employment of components of the units concerned. Neither does it, or itself, include administrative or logistic control. (AAP – 6 (U).
    ** Mounting Headquarters is responsible for providing both executive and staff functions for the deployment, sustainment and redeployment of the MLF.