13.3 Security policy: historical background

Following the Second World War and with the rise of the Cold War, many European countries were involved in mutual defence pacts against the Soviet threat as well as initiatives to prevent war in Western Europe.

(I) The BTO and NATO

In 1948 Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK (5 countries) signed a 50-year agreement on economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defence. This was the Brussels Treaty, establishing the Brussels Treaty Organisation (BTO).

The US, Canada and the Brussels Treaty powers then negotiated the setting up of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a new collective security alliance that would be both a military organisation for the defence of Western Europe and a political alliance. The NATO Treaty was signed in 1949 by the Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway and Portugal as well as the US, Canada, the Brussels Treaty powers (12 countries in all).

Subsequently NATO expanded as follows:

• 1^st expansion: Greece and Turkey (1952).
• 2^nd expansion: West Germany (1955, Germany after reunification in 1990).
• 3^rd expansion: Spain (1982, confirmed by referendum in 1986).
• 4^th expansion, after the ending of the Cold War in the early 1990s: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999).
• 5^th expansion: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania (2004).
• There are, therefore, currently 26 members of NATO: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US.
• The "neutral" countries of Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland are not members of NATO.
• In addition the following countries have declared NATO membership as a goal:
• Albania.
• Ex-Yugoslavia: Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Ex-USSR: Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

(II) The ECSC and the EDC

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was created in 1952 by the Treaty of Paris (1951), following a French proposal to pool the French and German coal and steel industries (the Schuman Pan). The object was to make war between those countries impossible by putting essential production under the control of a supranational body. West Germany immediately agreed, and when Italy and the Benelux countries decided to join as founder signatories, "the Six" came into being.

The European Defence Community (EDC) Treaty, based on Pleven Plan of 1950, was signed by the six ECSC countries in 1952. The EDC Treaty was, however, rejected by French Parliament and the EDC was abandoned in 1954.

(III) The WEU and its relationship with the EU

In 1954 the BTO changed its name to the Western European Union (WEU) with the addition of Italy and West Germany and following the collapse of the European Defence Community. The signatories of the 1954 Paris Agreements clearly stated their three main objectives in the preamble to the modified Brussels Treaty:

• To create in Western Europe a firm basis for economic recovery.
• To afford assistance to each other in resisting any policy of aggression.
• To promote the unity and encourage the progressive integration of Europe.

The WEU provides a forum for discussion and co-operation on matters of defence and security and its secretariat is in Paris.

The WEU's membership (and classes of relationship) has expanded since 1954. The changes are as follows:

• Full members:
• Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK (from the BTO, 1948).
• West Germany (Germany on unification) and Italy (1954).
• 1^st expansion: Portugal and Spain (1990).
• 2^nd expansion: Greece (1995).
• Associate members (class of membership agreed in Rome, 1992, for countries that were then NATO members but not EU members):
• Iceland, Norway and Turkey (1992).
• The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (1999).
• Observer countries (class of relationship agreed in Rome, 1992, for countries that were then EU members but not NATO countries (except Denmark)):
• Denmark and Ireland (1992).
• Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995).
• Associate partners (class of relationship agreed in Kirchberg, 1994, for countries that were then neither EU members nor NATO members):
• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia (1996).

Reflecting provisions in the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties and following the Cologne and Helsinki European Councils (1999), many of the WEU's operational functions, including its crisis management role, have been transferred to the EU.

Some of the moves that indicate the merging, albeit partial, of the WEU and the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) are:

• The Petersberg (sic) tasks, declared by the WEU in 1992 (Petersberg Declaration), were incorporated in 1997 into the Amsterdam Treaty, forming the basis of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) which frames a common policy to deal with humanitarian help and rescue, peacekeeping and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking.
• In 1999, Javier Solana, the EU's High-Representative for the CFSP, was also appointed the Secretary-General of the WEU.
• The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC) have replaced the WEU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and WEU Satellite Centre (EUSC) which were established to function, in connection to the WEU.

The Council of the WEU decided in 2001 that, from 1 January 2002, it was unnecessary, in present and foreseeable circumstances, to make any formal change to the statuses of non-full members.

Eurocorps

In 1991 President François Mitterrand and Chancellor Helmut Kohl informed the President-in-Office of the European Council that they proposed to form a Franco-German military alliance in which the other armed forces of the WEU could participate. The result was Eurocorps, which was inaugurated in 1992 with 5 framework nations ("member states"). They were Belgium, France, Germany, Luxenbourg and Spain.

The functions of the Eurocorps were specified in its founding treaties:

• To carry out humanitarian aid missions.
• To be available for peace-restoring or peace-keeping missions.
• To be employed as a mechanised army corps in high-intensity combat operations.

Following discussions in EU European Councils (in 1999) and at the Franco-German Summit in Toulouse (also in 1999) it was agreed to put the Eurocorps at the disposal of the EU for crisis response. Since 2002, Eurocorps has been certified as a NATO High Readiness Force, to which end membership is now open to all NATO members. Eurocorps is, therefore, a force for use by both the EU and NATO.

Countries other than the 5 member states have staff located at Eurocorps' Strasbourg HQ but they do not currently contribute military capacity. They are Austria, Canada, Greece, Italy, Poland and Turkey.

EUROFOR

In 1995 the WEU's Council of Ministers met in Lisbon. France, Italy, Spain and Portugal agreed, the Lisbon Declaration, to create EUROFOR (the European Operational Rapid Reaction Force).

EUROFOR is based in Florence, Italy, and became operational in 1998. It is the task force of the WEU. But it has been declared a "Force Answerable to the EU" (FAWEU) as its priority framework, in order to strengthen the European Security and Defence Identity. It can also be employed by NATO or the UN in the fulfilment of peace missions. EUROMARFOR was created for naval operations (1995).

EUROFOR is not to be confused with the European Union Force (EUFOR) which operates under the EU's European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). "EUFOR-Althea", for example, operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

RL, February 2007