We meet Lieutenant General Ton Van Osch, Director General of EU Military Staff. Not all MEPs are convinced the EU needs a military wing.

Who's in charge of EU military intervention?

Who is this man?  And why is he talking with MEPs?

You may not have heard of him  or his job

but he's the Director General  of the EU Military Staff.

If the EU wants  to carry out military missions,

it's my task to plan for it at a strategic level  and coordinate who does what.

The EU Military Staff work  under the Military Committee

of the Member States' defence chiefs  who provide the capabilities.

Currently, an EU team is training the Malian  army to take on a jihadist invasion,

Concern over the Sahel region  is proof, it's argued,

that the EU's 'soft power'  isn't always enough.

In the kind of world we're living in –

multi-polar with more security threats  of a transnational nature –

the EU, to be a credible actor  and an actor for peace and the rule of law,

must also invest in its military muscle.

Since 2003, the EU has been involved  in almost 30 military operations

in 19 countries and on three continents.

It tends to act only  where NATO cannot or will not

Control is exercised  by the EU's External Action Service.

I work under the responsibility  of Baroness Cathy Ashton,

who has the mandate to coordinate  all the external actions of the EU.

Twenty one EU Member States  are also members of NATO,

and find engagement in anything other  than humanitarian missions difficult.

Some MEPs feel the EU should not get  engaged in military operations at all.

The European Union's so-called military  capability has a sort of cosmetic plausibility.

Over the years you have had  a succession of generals –

you've had a British general – who've  headed up the so-called EU Military Staff.

My contention is: none of it is necessary.

A number of EU military missions are  ongoing and they won't be the last.

Whenever the EU  is called upon to act militarily,

it's this man  to whom the politicians turn.