Finabel

Finabel is a European organisation created with a view to promote interoperability (ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together) and cooperation between the national armies of the member states of the European Union (EU). The organisation was founded in 1953, and its name is the acronym of the initial letters of the member states - France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It became FINABEL when Germany (Allemagne) joined in 1956, shortly after West Germany was rearmed in 1955. Later, the name has been kept as a proper noun, written in lower-case, when membership further expanded. Finabel was founded by armies which belonged to both NATO and Western European Union.

Finabel is under the control of the member states' army chiefs of staff, and the organisation's work agenda consists of studies and working groups. Finabel has a small permanent secretariat of a few people. The studies carried out by Finabel take the form of : - Reports: results of studies entrusted to the Working Groups. - Agreements: relate to the military characteristics of equipment. - Conventions: standardise procedures, testing methods and glossaries in order to facilitate exchanges between member states.

Definition
The Finabel coordination committee is a land forces organisation comprising 17 Member states of the European Union with a view to promote interoperability between the land forces of its Member states.

Membership is open to all of the Member states of the European Union

History
The committee was created in October 1953 under the acronym FINBEL by the Army Chiefs of Staff of France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and then became Finabel with the arrival of Germany (Allemagne) in 1956. Initially, French was the official language. In the 2000s the use of English increased progressively and since 2011 is the language used across all levels.

The Finabel Committee’s initial task focused on cooperation between armament programmes. This task quickly developed into the harmonisation of army doctrines.

General Principles
The Finabel Committee’s tasks have a European perspective; their purpose is to ‘promote and facilitate interoperability between land forces across the full spectrum of military operations through the harmonisation of concepts, doctrines and procedures, whilst taking into account the joint military environment’, and to ‘develop a common European understanding of defence problems by seeking to complement and co-operate with NATO and EU military structures.’ The Finabel Committee takes its decisions based on consensus and equality between its Member states.

The organisation expresses itself through reports entrusted to working groups, which produce ‘studies’ and ‘agreements’ on the military characteristics of equipment or ‘conventions’ that normalise certain procedures and glossaries in order to facilitate discussion between countries.

The proposal and recommendations that result from Finabel’s work can be freely applied by the land components and its member states.

Since the creation of Finabel was not the result of an intergovernmental agreement, Finabel has the status of an informal international de facto association.

The Army Chiefs of Staff Committee
Executive, the highest level. It meets once a year to summarise work of the past year and to establish the objectives for the coming year. The chairmanship of the committee changes annually.

The Principal Military Experts (PME) Committee
Made up primarily of officers responsible for doctrine, planning and studies within the staff of land components of Finabel member states. It meets twice a year to analyse the directives of the Chiefs of Staff and reformulate them in terms of missions to be distributed among the Working Groups. Belgium has provided a chairman for this committee.

The Permanent Secretariat
Located in Brussels, the only permanent structure. It deals with administrative and organisational matters.

The Working Groups
4 Standing Working Groups carry out studies (missions) distributed by the Principal Military Experts Committee in various areas of interest to the Armies.

- ENGAGEMENT: (Engage / Protect / Training) - "Effective Engagement", it studies and harmonises the doctrine, methods of action and procedures relating to the use of land forces.

- MANOEUVRE: (Sustainability / Deployability) - "Effective Logistics".

- KNOWLEDGE: (C4I / Information & Intel).

- FORCE DEVELOPMENT: "Conceptual and prospective studies". It drafts general concepts for Finabel and undertakes conceptual and prospective studies in order to create a framework for further studies by Finabel Working Groups.

The Coordination Commission
Chaired by the head of the Permanent Secretariat, it gathers all Working Groups'chairmen. Provides a better coordination between Finabel members and a close collaboration between the groups.

Member states
As of 2012, membership consists of 17 countries:
 * 🇧🇪 (1953)
 * 🇫🇷 (1953)
 * 🇮🇹 (1953)
 * (1953)
 * 🇱🇺 (1953)
 * 🇩🇪 (1956)
 * 🇬🇧 (1973)
 * 🇪🇸 (1990)
 * (1996)
 * (1996)
 * 🇵🇱 (2006)
 * 🇸🇰 (2006)
 * 🇨🇾 (2008)
 * 🇫🇮 (2008)
 * (2008)
 * 🇲🇹 (2010)
 * 🇨🇿 (2012)

Finabel has as its stated ambition to bring all member states of the European Union within the organisation.

Emblem and motto
The two crossed swords represent Finabel’s land identity. The twelve stars represent the strong link with Europe, maintained by Finabel since its creation. The shield represents the defence of peace, a key foundation of European military forces. On the left we can see Ares, Roman God of War, expressing its violence and, on the right we can see the Goddess Athena, who personifies wisdom and the ordered side of war, abiding by the rules which characterise our democracies.

This symbol is summarised by the Latin phrase, which means ‘reflection serving military action’, Finabel’s essential purpose.

Observers
Finabel welcomes observer organisations from the EU and NATO: the EDA (European Defence Agency), the EUMS (European Union Military Staff) the NAAG (NATO Army Armament Group) as well as the following bodies: CHENS (CHiefs of European NavieS), EAG European Air Group) and ELDIG (European Land Defence Industry Group; sectorial land component of ASD, the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe).

The objective is to consult on the different points of views and to prevent any duplication or contradiction of NATO’s doctrine or the concepts outlined by the military organisations of the EU.

Partners

 * The European Union Military Staff (EUMS): early warning, strategic planning, and situation assessment
 * NAAG: The NATO Army Armaments Group is responsible for promoting co-operation and standardisation in the area of land armaments via information exchange and collective activities.
 * The European Defence Agency (EDA)
 * The European Air Group (EAG)