On 15 May 2024 the EU Chiefs of Staff selected Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, to succeed the current chairman of the EU Military Committee, Austrian General Robert Brieger. The Irish Air Corps general is expected to take office on 1 June 2025, subject to his appointment being formally approved by the European Council.
With the election of Lt Gen Clancy, the representative of a non-NATO country has been elected to this office for the second time in a row. Critics see a disadvantage in the fact that in such a critical geopolitical situation, in which co-ordination with NATO is necessary to strengthen pan-European military efforts, the EU’s highest military body is headed by a ‘neutral’. On the other hand, Ireland’s application documents the importance it attaches to military co-operation in the changing security landscape.
Lt Gen Seán Clancy joined the Irish Defence Forces in 1984, began his flight training in 1986 and has been Ireland’s highest-ranking soldier since September 2019. He is expected to be promoted temporarily to become a four-star general before taking up his post in Brussels, commensurate with his future role.
The chairman of the EU Military Committee, preferably a former chief of defence (CHOD) of an EU member state, is elected by the CHODs of the member states and is normally appointed by the Council for a term of three years. He provides military advice to the EU Political and Security Committee and the European Council. The EU Military Committee is the highest military body established in the Council and is composed of the CHODs of the member states, who are represented by their permanent military representatives for their regular meetings in Brussels.
