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The European Security and Defence Policy or ESDP is a major element of the Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar of the European Union (EU). The ESDP is the successor of the ESDI under NATO, but differs in that it falls under the jurisdiction of the European Union itself, including countries with no ties to NATO.
Formally, the European Security and Defence Policy is the domain of the Council of the European Union, which is an intergovernmental body in which the member states are represented. Nonetheless, the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, in the person of Javier Solana also plays a significant role. In his position as Secretary General of the Council, he prepares and examines decisions to be made before they are brought to the Council.
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History of the ESDP
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European security policy has followed several different paths during the 1990s, developing simultaneously within the Western European Union, NATO and the European Union itself.
In 1992, the Western European Union had adopted the Petersberg tasks, designed to cope with a possible destabilising Eastern Europe. The WEU itself had no standing army but was dependent on cooperation between her members. Its tasks ranged from the most modest to the most robust, and included:
At the 1996 NATO summit in Berlin, it was agreed that the WEU would oversee the creation of a European Security and Defence Identity within NATO structures. The ESDI was to create a European 'pillar' within NATO, partly to allow European countries to act militarily where NATO wished not to, and partly to alleviate the United States' financial burden of maintaining the military bases which it had had in Europe since the Cold War. The Berlin agreement allowed European countries (through the Western European Union) to use NATO assets if it so wished (this agreement was later amended to allow the European Union to conduct such missions, the so-called Berlin-plus arrangement).
The European Union incorporated the same Petersberg tasks within its domain with the Amsterdam Treaty. The treaty signalled the progressive framing of a common security and defence policy based on the Petersberg tasks. Traditional British reluctance to such a plan changed into endorsement after a bilateral declaration of French President Jacques Chirac and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Malo, where they stated that "the Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises".
In June 1999, the Cologne European Council decided to incorporate the role of the Western European Union within the EU, effectively shutting down the WEU. The Cologne Council also appointed Javier Solana as the High Representative of the CFSP to help progress both the CFSP and the ESDP.
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European Security Strategy
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The European Security Strategy is the policy document that guides the European Union's international security strategy. Its headline reads: "A Secure Europe In A Better World". The
document was approved by the European Council held in Brussels on 12 December 2003 and drafted under the responsibilities of the EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy CFSP Javier Solana. With the emergence of the ESDP, it is the first time that Europe has formulated a joint security strategy. It can be considered a counterpart to the National Security Strategy of the United States.
The document starts out with the declaration that "Europe has never been so prosperous, so secure nor so free". Its conclusion is that "The world is full of new dangers and opportunities". Along these lines, it argues that in order to ensure security for Europe in a globalising world multilateral cooperation within Europe and abroad is to be the imperative, because "no single nation is able to tackle today's complex challenges". As such the ESS identifies a string of key threats Europe needs to deal with: terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflict, failed states, and organised crime. The full report can be found here.
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NATO-ESDP Relations
The European Security Strategy strikingly overlaps with NATO's mission. Yet, their body of members is not identical and there are some unresoveld issues between members. Furthermore, concerns were voiced that an independent European security pillar might result in a declining importance of NATO as a transatlantic forum.
In response to St. Malo, the former US-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright put forth the three famous D’s which outline American expectations towards ESDP to this day: no duplication of what was done effectively under NATO, no decoupling from the US and NATO, and no discrimination against non-EU members such as Turkey.
In the joint EU-NATO declaration of 2002 the six founding principles included partnership, for example crisis management activities should be "mutually reinforcing", effective mutual consultation and cooperation, equality and due regard for ‘the decision-making autonomy and interests’ of both EU and NATO, and ‘coherent and mutually reinforcing development of the military capability requirements common to the two organisations’. In institutional terms, the partnership is reflected in particular by the "Berlin plus agreement" from March 2003 that allows the EU to use NATO structures, mechanisms and assets to carry out military operations if NATO declines to act. Furthermore an agreement has been signed on information sharing between the EU and NATO, and EU liaison cells are now in place at SHAPE (NATO’s strategic nerve center for planning and operations) and NATO’s Joint Force Command in Naples.
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European Union defence
The total spent by the 25 EU nations on defence is approximately €160 billion. On July 12 2004 details of an EU defence agency were finalised. The 80 person agency is headed by Nick Whitney, formerly in the UK's Ministry of Defence.
The first concrete step as part of the ESDP to enhance military capabilities was made in 1999 when EU member states signed the Helsinki Headline Goal. They include the creation of a European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF) to encompass the so called “Petersberg Tasks”. The EU launched the European Capabilities Action Plan (ECAP) at the Laeken Summit in December of 2001. However, it became clear that the objectives outlined in the Helsinki Headline Goal were not achievable quickly. In May 2004 EU defense ministers approved “Headline Goal 2010”, extending the timelines for the EU's project.
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Petersberg tasks
The Petersberg tasks are the military tasks of a humanitarian, peacekeeping and peacemaking nature that the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU) are empowered to do. They were defined in June 1992 at the Hotel Petersberg near Bonn in Germany at a meeting of the Council of the WEU, where the member states agreed to deploy their troops and resources from across the whole spectrum of the military under the authority of the WEU. As a part of the partial merger of the WEU with the European Union these tasks now form a part of the European Security and Defence Policy, and are central to strengthening the European Union's second pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
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Elements of the ESDP
The following permanent political and military bodies were established after the approval of the Nice European Council.
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Constitution
The draft EU constitution attempted to codify the European Security and Defence Policy further, but it was ultimately rejected by both France and the Netherlands, and as such did not come into effect. The draft constitution read:
The common security and defence policy shall include the progressive framing of a common Union defence policy. This will lead to a common defence, when the European Council, acting unanimously, so decides. It shall in that case recommend to the member States the adoption of such a decision in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.
The policy of the Union in accordance with this article shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain member states, which see their common defence realised in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, under the North Atlantic Treaty, and be compatible with the common security and defence policy established within that framework. (Art. 1-41 2)
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Missions in the ESDP context
Operations launched by the EU in the ESDP context include:
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Past operations
EUJUST Themis: More fully the EU Rule of Law Mission to Georgia, this mission was launched on 16 July, 2004 for a duration of 12 months, and was designed to support the Georgian authorities in challenges to the criminal justice system and reform process.
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Current operations
EUFOR Althea: This is a EU military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a transition from the NATO-led SFOR. Transfer of authority from SFOR to EUFOR happened on 2 December, 2004.
EUPOL Kinshasa: In October 2003, the Democratic Republic of Congo requested the EU for assistance in setting up an Integrated Police Unit. EUPOL KINSHASA will monitor, mentor, and advise the IPU once trained and operational under a Congolese chain of command, until the national elections in DRC foreseen to be held in 2005.
EUJUST Lex: The objective of this judicial mission to Iraq is to train some 770 judges, investigating magistrates, and senior police and penitentiary officers. It was launched on 21 February 2005.
EUSEC DR Congo: Launched on 2 May 2005. The European Union mission is to provide advice and assistance for security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Aceh Monitoring Mission: The European Union, together with contributing countries from ASEAN, as well as with Norway and Switzerland, has deployed in September 2005 a monitoring mission in Aceh (Indonesia), monitoring the implementation of the peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
EU COPPS: EU support to the Palestinian Civil Police, security sector reform and criminal justice
EU BAM Rafah: A Border Monitoring Mission at the Rafah border-crossing between the Gaza and Egypt
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Possible future operations
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Predecessors of the ESDP
Western European Union: The WEU was created after the failure of the EDC, an organisation composed of those states who were members of both NATO and EU. Partially dormant, its tasks have been in part transferred to the EU. It's not yet certain whether the WEU will remain an independent organisation or be eventually fully merged into the EU.
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See also
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