France holds the Presidency of Western European Union (WEU) from January to December 2008 and the Presidency of the European Union (EU) from July to December 2008. European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is one of its priorities. This policy, though modest in scope, is a success story. Through ESDP military and civil operations, Europeans can work together to promote world peace. It is a policy that has reached its limits, however, and it will take bold political initiatives for ESDP to develop further. France could play a decisive role during its presidency, proposing ambitious new approaches while retaining the spirit of the innovations contained in the Lisbon Treaty in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). France, which is in the process of redefining its national security and defence priorities, has declared that it wants to give its national endeavours a European perspective. While the highest French authorities intend giving European defence the priority it deserves, they must also be mindful of the expectations of European citizens in matters of transparency and the democratic oversight of ESDP, of which the large majority of the public are in favour.
European Defence: Quo Vadis?
The crisis-management missions currently being conducted in the EU framework were originally defined within the Western European Union (WEU) framework. The WEU Council of Ministers, meeting in Petersberg (Germany) on 19 June 1992, drew up a list of crisis-management missions that the member states wanted to be capable of conducting jointly. The definition of the Petersberg missions was included word for word in the Treaty of Amsterdam (Art. J.7), making the EU an important player in international security, and was also incorporated into the 2000 Nice Treaty (Art. 17). This treaty is currently the legal basis for the EU’s ESDP activities.
Successive European Councils have refined the objectives of and methods for the conduct of EU crisis-management missions, leading to a European doctrine founded on both a civil and military approach to crisis management. The Helsinki European Council, meeting in December 1999, decided to create a European rapid reaction capability (Headline Goal 2003). The objective was to ‘be able, by 2003, to deploy within 60 days and sustain for at least one year forces up to corps level (60,000 persons)’ with a view to carrying out all the Petersberg missions. The Council also decided to set up new, permanent political and military structures—a Political and Security Committee (PSC), an EU Military Committee and Military Staff—to provide the political control and strategic direction necessary to carry out the Petersberg missions. Building on the Headline Goal 2003, a new EU Headline Goal 2010 was adopted by the European Council in Brussels in June 2004, according to which the EU member states should, by 2010, be able to respond more rapidly to an emerging crisis by deploying a battlegroup (of 1,500 soldiers) in less than ten days. Two 1,500-strong battlegroups have been available on permanent operational stand-by since 1 January 2007.
Since 2003 the European Union has conducted about 15 operations on the European continent, in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. What Europeans have achieved together is by no means inconsiderable. Particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Moldova, but also in the Palestinian territories and Indonesia, EU action to promote peace and development has been worthwhile and at times decisive. The EU is also present in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Chad.
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