13.2 Common Foreign and Security policy: brief history

(I) Early history

The Treaty of Rome (1957) made no mention of foreign and security policy. Progress towards the coordination of member states' foreign policy was, prior to the Maastricht Treaty, slow and largely informal.

Nevertheless, foreign policy cooperation (known as European Political Cooperation (EPC)) dates from as far back as the Hague Summit of 1969, when the Davignon Committee was initiated. The subsequent Davignon Report (1970) made several recommendations for EPC which were broadly accepted by the Council of Ministers. With a number of adaptations over the years the Davignon Report provided the framework for EPC during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Single European Act (1986) formally committed the member states to "endeavour jointly to formulate and implement a European foreign policy". But, until Maastricht, many of the foreign affairs initiatives and positions which were taken by the EU Heads of Government were effectively ignored.

(II) The 1990s and the 2000s

The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s gave new impetus to a common foreign and security policy. And the Maastricht Treaty (signed 1992) provided a new framework for foreign policy. It created a new second pillar for the new Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the decisions of which were to be taken inter-governmentally and by unanimity. The Treaty stated that the CFSP should include all questions relating to the security of the EU, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in some time lead to a common defence. Decisions on defence would in the meantime be implemented on request by the WEU. The WEU would effectively be the "defence arm" of the EU.

The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) consolidated and extended the Maastricht Treaty's provisions for the CFSP. The Treaty included:

• The appointment of a High Representative for the CFSP. He would act as General-Secretary of the Council of Ministers and would have a new Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit. Javier Solana Madariaga was appointed to this post in June 1999 and he was also appointed to the post of Secretary-General of the WEU in November 1999, underlining the closeness between the EU and the WEU. Solana was also appointed as General-Secretary of the Council of Ministers in 1999.
• Unanimity would be retained but the concept "constructive abstention" was agreed, where a member can abstain without blocking an otherwise unanimous decision.
• The WEU's "Petersberg tasks" were brought into the CFSP. The Petersberg Declaration (1992) had identified humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping and crisis management as suitable tasks for the WEU.

At the Helsinki European Council (1999) it was agreed:

• To develop the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) as a distinctive part of the CFSP to operate, arguably, independently of NATO.
• To set up an EU Rapid Reaction Force (EURRF or ERRF), an EU-managed military force to back up the CFSP.
• That the EU should effectively take over the operational responsibilities of the WEU.

The Nice Treaty formalised these agreements. For later developments see Fact Sheets 13.3 (on the WEU) and 13.4 (on the ESDP).

The Constitutional Treaty proposed fundamental changes to the CFSP and other aspects of the EU's External Relations. They included:

• Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) would cease being inter-governmental (Maastricht's 2^nd pillar) and would become an EU competence.
• A newly created Foreign Minister who would conduct the Union's CFSP. The present position of Commissioner for External Affairs would cease to exist. The Foreign Minister would also be a Vice-President.
• The development of an EU diplomatic service.
• The draft Constitution includes a very general "solidarity clause" and a proposal for an ever-increasing degree of convergence of member states' actions. Member states, acting in international conferences, would be expected to support the Union's interests. They would be required to ‘actively and unreservedly support' the CFSP ‘in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity'.
• The European Council would identify the Union's CFSP's strategic interests unanimously, but the actual policy will be decided by QMV.
• The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) would be renamed the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) The Articles on defence state that member states would be required to make military and civilian capabilities available to the CSDP.

RL, February 2007