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13.4 The CFSP and the ESDP
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) The Common Foreign and Security Policy originated with the Maastricht Treaty (1992). The Amsterdam Treaty created the post of High Representative for the CFSP. Javier Solana Madariaga was appointed as Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (Ministers) and High Representative for the CFSP in 1999. He was also appointed to the post of Secretary-General of the WEU in 1999, underlining the closeness between the EU and the WEU. Policy under the CFSP is coordinated by EU High Representative Solana. He is responsible for coordinating the foreign policy goals of the member states - though member states still retain a degree of independence. Decisions on CFSP are taken through the European Council and member states still retain the right to veto EU policy decisions and set their own priorities. Under the authority of the High Representative, the EU now has diplomatic missions in several important countries. The High Representative is, de facto, the EU's ambassador overseas. The Constitution proposes expanding the diplomatic missions significantly to create an EU diplomatic service. The European Council also issues "common strategies" on issues about which all members agree, many as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) (I) The 1990s The EU's weakness during the Balkan Wars of the early 1990s, where NATO and the US led operations, was interpreted by some to demonstrate the need for EU member states to work together in defence. However, the EU's moves towards defence cooperation have at times proved confusing and difficult as EU defence duplicates resources that are already committed to NATO as well as individual member states existing defence activities. The aim of the ESDP is to complete, and thus strengthen, the EU's external ability to act autonomously through the development of civilian and military capabilities for international conflict prevention and crisis management. In other words, the ESDP's objective is the creation of a "European Security and Defence Identity", which is independent of NATO. The ESDP has the potential to develop into a common defence structure. The development of the ESDP followed on from a crucial meeting between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac at St Malo in 1998, when Tony Blair agreed that the UK's armed forces should be integrated with those of the EU as part of an autonomous EU defence effort, capable of operating outside NATO. The ESDP was agreed on at the Cologne and Helsinki Summits (1999). At the Helsinki Summit (1999) the member states set themselves a defence capability target called the Helsinki Headline Goal (HHG). This called for the EU to be able to deploy an EU Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF or EURRF) of up to 60,000 combat troops at 60 days notice for missions including crisis management, peacekeeping and peace-making operations. The ERRF was planned to be a trans-national military force managed by the EU but it was not planned as a standing "EU" army. Army units would remain with their national armies when not deployed or on exercise. (II) The 2000s A key treaty was signed between the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden on in July 2000, which was described as a "Framework agreement". It was concerned with the restructuring and operation of the European defence industry. The Parties recognised "the need to harmonise the military requirements of their armed forces". In order to enable the EU fully to assume its responsibility for crisis management, the Nice European Council (2000) decided to establish permanent political and military structures for the ESDP. They comprise:
For much of 2003 the EU experienced many internal tensions over the US-led coalition's invasion of Iraq. But many of the tensions were resolved by the end of the year. In December 2003, EU leaders agreed a 15-page European Security Strategy (ESS) that outlined areas where they felt the EU should be a more effective actor in world affairs. The document, the so-called "Solana doctrine", focused on "effective multilateralism". The member states have since agreed on the ESS's basic mission and priority areas for action. They were: the fight against terror, a Middle East strategy and a comprehensive policy on Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also in December 2003 the EU's main military powers (France, Germany and the UK) agreed a deal on a military planning cell for crisis management operations and that the EU should have its own military planning capability independent of NATO. It confirmed that, despite political tensions over Iraq, there was strong cooperation on foreign and defence policy between London, Paris and Berlin. The Berlin Plus agreement between the EU and NATO (March 2003) allowed the EU access to NATO planning and command structures and equipment during its operations. This helps to make up for the EU's weaknesses - which the EU is also trying to address through the European Defence Agency (EDA). In June 2004 the HHG was reformed to target shortfalls in the EU's military capabilities and new goals were set for 2010. The 2010 goals changed the military focus of the ESDP, Rather than focusing on a large deployment like the ERRF, a series of European Battle Groups of 1,500 troops were to be created. Such forces are intended to allow greater flexibility in meeting demands for military deployment in the modern world. The EU "Battlegroup Concept" reached its Initial Operational Capacity in 2005. This meant that the EU had at least one Battlegroup on standby on a permanent basis. On 1 January 2007 the EU Battlegroup Concept reached Full Operational Capability. This means the EU has the capacity to undertake 2 concurrent single battlegroup-sized rapid response operations, including the ability to launch both such operations nearly simultaneously. The EU's military operations The peacekeeping operations of the military EU Force (EUFOR) have, to date, generally been closely related to NATO operations. They are:
In Operations Concordia and Althea EU soldiers had access to NATO equipment and command structures, but Operation Artemis was undertaken by the EU entirely on its own. The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the other agencies of the ESDP The ESDP has three agencies. The European Defence Agency (EDA) was established in July 2004, "to support the member states in their effort to improve European defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the ESDP as it stands now and develops in the future". The EDA has four main aims:
The other two EU agencies of the ESDP are:
It was agreed in 2005 to set up a European Security and Defence College (ESDC). The EU's European Space Agency is developing the Galileo satellite system, which is due to be in place by 2008 and to be directed from the EUSC. Galileo, built with Chinese involvement, could serve a military use previously only provided by the US system. There are concerns that, once Galileo is operational, the UK will become increasingly locked into the EU's defence structures and systems and, consequently, be unable to fully participate in joint US-UK military operations, which are becoming increasingly dependent on satellite technology. RL, February 2007 |
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