The CESDP, the CFSP and the ESDI
7. The Helsinki proposals refer to the 'Common European
Security and Defence Policy' (CESDP). This is also referred to
as the ESDP. The possibility of a 'common defence policy' was
first mentioned in the Maastricht Treaty in 1991, but it is only
now that it is being talked about as something both concrete and
realisable. The CESDP, the Secretary of State told us, was the
"strict, technical title" of the European Defence Initiative
launched by the UK at the informal European Council at Pörtschach,
Austria in the autumn of 1998.[19]
The Prime Minister described this as
... aimed at giving greater
credibility to Europe's Common Foreign and Security Policy ...
We Europeans should not expect the United States to have to play
a part in every disorder in our own back yard. The European Union
should be able to take on some security tasks on our own, and
we will do better through a common European effort than we can
by individual countries acting on their own.[20]
8. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP),
to which the Prime Minister referred, is established under Title
V of the Treaty of European Union (as first embodied in the Maastricht
Treaty and subsequently adapted by the Amsterdam Treaty). This
states that
The Union shall define and
implement a common foreign and security policy covering all areas
of foreign and security policy, the objectives of which shall
be:
- to safeguard the common values, fundamental interests,
independence and integrity of the Union in conformity with the
principles of the United Nations Charter;
- to strengthen the security of the Union in all
ways;
- to preserve peace and strengthen international
security, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations
Charter, as well as the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and
the objectives of the Paris Charter, including those on external
borders;
- to promote international cooperation;
- to develop and consolidate democracy and the
rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.[21]
The general direction of the CFSP is to be determined
by the European Council (the Heads of State and Heads of Governments
who meet twice yearly at the European Summits) and is to be implemented
by the Council of Ministers. The Treaty states that
The European Council shall
define the principles of and guidelines for the common foreign
and security policy, including for matters with defence implications
[and] shall decide on common strategies to be implemented by the
Union in areas where the Member States have important interests
in common. Common strategies shall set out their objectives, duration
and the means to be made available by the Union and the Member
States.
The Council [of Ministers] shall take the decisions
necessary for defining and implementing the common foreign and
security policy on the basis of the general guidelines defined
by the European Council ... shall recommend common strategies
to the European Council and shall implement them, in particular
by adopting joint actions and common positions [and] shall ensure
the unity, consistency and effectiveness of action by the Union.[22]
The CESDP rests on this second 'pillar' of the EU.[23]
9. In its final communiqué from the Helsinki
Summit the European Council announced that it had adopted
... the two Presidency progress
reports ... on developing the Union's military and non-military
crisis management capability as part of a strengthened common
European policy on security and defence [and underlined] its determination
to develop an autonomous capacity to take decisions and, where
NATO as a whole is not engaged, to launch and conduct EU-led military
operations in response to international crises.
"This process" it added, "will avoid
unnecessary duplication and does not imply the creation of a European
army".[24]
10. We asked the Secretary of State to explain how
the CESDP relates to the European Security and Defence Identity
(ESDI). He defined the ESDI as a NATO initiative, which
... allows the European nations
to make use of NATO assets and capabilities to undertake crisis
management operations, set out in the 1996 Berlin agreement between
the WEU and NATO, [which] is now developed to allow European Union/NATO
cooperation under what is known as "Berlin Plus".[25]
Since 1985, the Western European Union (WEU) has
been the institutional mechanism for the development of the ESDI.
In his evidence to us on 16 February this year, the Secretary
of State described the WEU as reaching "... the end of its
sensible working life ...".[26]
He went on
... the WEU itself has adapted
over time. The idea that this is a fixed body that has always
had the same functions and responsibilities is simply not the
case ... I can see the possibility of further change for parts
of what it does [but] ... the essential functions in the WEU [will]
be folded into the European Union to avoid ... unnecessary duplication
that might otherwise arise. There are still some discussions that
we have to have about what parts of the institutional make-up
of the WEU would continue after that process.[27]
11. Although the ESDI has been under active development
for over ten years, the decision to take the WEU out of the equation
and locate the ESDI within the EU has created a new set of problems
which the EU and NATO must now try to resolve. Essentially, these
concern how to integrate the six European NATO Allies who are
not members of the EU into the CESDP, and how to integrate the
four members of the EU who are not NATO Allies into the ESDI.
These problems are what the institutional mechanisms set out in
the Finnish Presidency's Progress Report are intended to solve.
How these arrangements might work is a central question which
we examine below. Future enlargement of the EU may also be affected
by the way in which the CESDP develops.
12. Before we turn to that more detailed examination
of the future arrangements for EU/NATO cooperation set out in
the Progress Report, we review briefly the history of the development
of the European pillar of NATO.
EUROPEAN SECURITY STRUCTURES
|
EU |
WEU
| NATO
|
BELGIUM | Member
| Member
| Member
|
FRANCE | Member
| Member
| Member
|
GERMANY | Member
| Member
| Member
|
GREECE | Member
| Member
| Member
|
ITALY | Member
| Member
| Member
|
LUXEMBOURG | Member
| Member
| Member
|
NETHERLANDS | Member
| Member
| Member
|
PORTUGAL | Member
| Member
| Member
|
SPAIN | Member
| Member
| Member
|
UK | Member
| Member
| Member
|
DENMARK | Member
| Observer
| Member
|
AUSTRIA | Member
| Observer
| Neutral
|
FINLAND | Member
| Observer
| Neutral
|
IRELAND | Member
| Observer
| Neutral
|
SWEDEN | Member
| Observer
| Neutral
|
CZECH REPUBLIC
| Applicant
| Associate Member
| Member
|
HUNGARY | Applicant
| Associate Member
| Member
|
ICELAND |
| Associate Member
| Member
|
NORWAY |
| Associate Member
| Member
|
POLAND | Applicant
| Associate Member
| Member
|
TURKEY | Applicant
| Associate Member
| Member
|
ALBANIA |
|
| Applicant
|
BULGARIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
ESTONIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
LATVIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
LITHUANIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
MACEDONIA |
|
| Applicant
|
ROMANIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
SLOVAKIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
SLOVENIA | Applicant
| Associate Partner
| Applicant
|
8