International crisis management 15. The Austrian Armed Forces shall make the following contributions to the full spectrum of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP): a. The Austrian Armed Forces must maintain and develop their special capabilities in order to contribute to international peacekeeping and international stabilisation tasks. b. They shall also possess robust and sufficiently sustainable capabilities to deal with demanding mission scenarios; these capabilities can either be incorporated into the Battlegroup or used within another multi-national context. c. Participation in the EU Battlegroups must be continued and further developed. The adop-tion of a leadership role within a regional Battlegroup must be examined. d. Furthermore, the capability to take over leadership tasks in CSDP missions up to the operational level should be ensured and expanded. 16. The Austrian Armed Forces must be able to contribute to the pool of civil-military capabilities for the implementation of the EU Solidarity Clause. 17. Furthermore, the capabilities of the Austrian Armed Forces must be maintained and or-ganised to make a solidarity-based contribution within a potentially developing common European defence, taking into account the “Irish Clause”. 18. The special commitment to UN peacekeeping and peace-building missions should be continued. Contributions within the politico-military dimension of the OSCE, to field mis-sions and in the context of confidence and security building shall be expanded. 19. Austria must also continue to make its contributions within PfP in order to maintain its relevance as a participant in PfP and sustain its corresponding level of usefulness in terms of security. The country’s commitment to PfP shall thus be continued, so as to ensure military interoperability, participation in operations, and the utilisation of cooperation opportunities offered, in accordance with Austria’s interests and requirements. Coopera-tion with other competent PfP states (particularly the WEP 5 group) shall be intensified. 20. In the context of international crisis management, a special Austrian profile shall be developed. It will represent Austria’s interests, in line with international demands as well as Austria’s competence with regard to security policy. 21. A pool of around 100 experts (also making use of the potential in the active reserve) is to be established by way of inter-ministerial coordination in order to support the Strategic Guidelines on Security and Development and for the purposes of reforming the security sector and contributing to military advisory tasks as well as for conflict prevention and post-crisis rehabilitation measures. 22. Depending on the particular situation, the Austrian Armed Forces will ensure that at least 1,100 soldiers are deployed on a permanent basis to international operations. Austria’s participation in short-term deployments of the Battlegroups or operative reserve forces is independent of this. All of the forces deployed by the Austrian Armed Forces must, in principle, be designed for dual use in, both national and international operations. 23. Deployments are conducted on the basis of the Federal Constitutional Law of Austria on Cooperation and Solidarity in the Deployment of Units and Individuals Abroad) and the catalogue of criteria in point 3.4.2.4 of the analysis section is to be taken into account. 24. Targeted preparation must be made to enable some parts of the Austrian Armed Forces to cooperate in operations with the European Gendarmerie Force. 25. In order to create synergies and optimise costs in military capacity development, the cooperation with partner states is to be intensified, particularly within the regional context. 26. All procurement plans must be oriented towards the designated tasks, whereby efforts to ensure the maximum level of protection for the health and lives of soldiers must be given top priority. Opportunities for international cooperation, particularly with the European Defence Agency, and primarily in the areas of research, procurement, training and capac-ity development, must be seized. 22