The CESD-Policy ArchiveDeveloping a Common European Security and Defense Policy
Since late 1998, the European Union is developing a Common
European Security and Defense Policy (CESDP) in order to enable it to
become an actor in the defense and security field. Aimed at providing
military capabilities to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
of the Union, this process represents a brand-new element in the
European integration process. The incorporation of a defense dimension
into the European integration process in the military and security
field is taking place with hardly any public debate. Nevertheless, the
development of CESD should be carried out in a transparent manner and
accompanied by a public discussion.
This is the reason why we have created
this CESD policy database. We intend to help create an informed debate
reassembling a wide range of basic documents from various
sources.
This site will be continuously updated and completed. Readers are encouraged to suggest further documents or links they might find useful. The documents in the database are grouped
in the following categories:
2. Developing a Common European Security and Defense Policy ....... ...1998..........1999..........2000..........2001
 In 1993 the Maastricht “Treaty on the
European Union” replaced the former system of treaties on which the
European Communities had been based for several decades. The Maastricht
Treaty replaced the "European Political Cooperation" (EPC) with the
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The Maastricht Treaty
formulated the goal of eventually framing a common defense policy,
which might in time lead to a common defense system. Finally, an
attached declaration set out that the Western European Union (WEU)
should be utilized and promoted as the defense component of the EU.
Relevant provisions of the Treaty on
European Union:
During 1996 and 1997, a successor to the Maastricht
Treaty was negotiated – the Amsterdam Treaty. Despite the wish
of some states to move faster, the new treaty did not open the door
entirely for the European Union to develop a common defense policy.
Nevertheless, it authorized the European Union to integrate the Petersberg tasks agreed in the WEU into the Union’s
policy and envisaged to develop the strengthened Common Foreign and
Security Policy (CFSP). It vaguely mentioned the possiblity that the
CFSP "might in time lead to a common defense". The position of
a High Representative for CFSP and a policy planning unit for the foreign
policy field were created. The Treaty instructed the Union to foster
closer ties with the WEU with a view to the possibility of its integration
into the EU.
By the end of 1998 it was clear that the
enhanced Common Foreign and Security Policy would become operational by
June of the following year, when the ratification process of the
Amsterdam Treaty was expected to be completed.
Relevant Excerpts from the Amsterdam Treaty:
WEU and EU membership is not identical but
overlapping. The EU has some members who do not wish to join any
military alliance. The WEU has a range of attached consultative bodies
allowing non-members to participate in a wide range of its activities.
During 1992 attempts were made to revitalize the dormant WEU providing it with tasks in crisis-management operations in support of the UN or the OSCE (the former CSCE). The Petersberg Declaration of WEU, approved in June 1992, established the kind of operations that could be undertaken by this organisation: humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping, tasks of combat forces in crisis management and peacemaking. Initial decisions to launch the development of a Common European Security and Defense Policy were taken in autumn 1998, in the course of the Austrian Presidency of the EU. On 23-24 October 1998 the European Council met unofficially in Pörtschach, Austria. This Summit was followed by the
first ever informal meeting of the Defense Ministers of the EU in
Vienna on 3-4 November 1998, which interestingly took place on
invitation of the Austrian Defense Minister. The meeting was reported
to have been purely informal and to have produced no results. However,
activities to jumpstart the defense initiative were intense during the
following months.
Click here to read the German Defense Ministry's brief remarks on the meeting (only in German). Click here for excerpts from
On 4 December 1998 a British French Summit
was held in St. Malo, France. Both nations issued the Defense Initiative Declaration, which stated that
the EU should give itself the capacity for autonomous military action
and proceed to the framing of a common security and defense
policy. For Britain, this represented a major shift. With this
declaration, both countries jointly claimed leadership in the process
of developing a defense policy for the European Union.
On 13-14 March 1999 the Foreign Ministers
of the European Union held an informal meeting at Reinhardtshausen.
From the German EU Presidency's Draft
Conclusions on CFSP it becomes clear that the decision had been
taken to develop a Common European Security and Defense Policy, beyond
its existing dimensions, extending into the sphere of military
crisis-management. Notably, this meeting was held ten days before the
Kosovo bombing campaign began.
The Kosovo war, which began on 2 March
1999 and lasted well into the summer of the same year, overshadowed
NATO’s 50th anniversary Summit held on 24-25 April 1999 in Washington
DC. The Summit adopted two documents containing a reference to the
development of a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) within
NATO and the EU’s Common European Security and Defense Policy. On the
one hand, the Alliance approved a new Strategic Concept which referred
to ESDI in the same manner as usual.
Click here to read the relevant excerpts of the new Strategic Concept. On the other hand, the Summit agreed a
Communique entitled “An Alliance for the 21st Century”. Two alternative
draft sections existed for the section on strengthening Europe’s role.
While one of them spoke of the ESDI concept as it was know so far, the
alternative section reflected the developments under preparation in the
EU for the European Council Meeting in Cologne. The latter was chosen
for inclusion in the final version of the Communique. Click here for the
On 10-11 May 1999, the WEU spring ministerial meeting took place in Bremen. The ministers decided to make the necessary preparations for the EU to have direct and indirect access to WEU resources. Click here for the Communique of the Bremen WEU Ministerial.
At the same time on 10 May 1999, the European Council decided on the arrangements for enhanced cooperation between the European Union and the Western European Union. At the informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers on 28 May 1999 in Bonn, decisive steps were initiated to design the European Security and Defense Policy. The decisions on these steps were finally taken in the course of the Summit meetings in Cologne, Helsinki, and Feira. On 3-4 June 1999 the European Council met in Cologne. It was the first meeting after the Amsterdam Treaty had entered into force on 1 May 1999. Thus the legal basis for strengthening the EU's CFSP existed. The Council agreed that the EU should procure the capabilities necessary to conduct military crisis-management operations across the full range of the Petersberg missions either in the context of NATO or independently from the Alliance. The Finnish EU Presidency, which took up its duties in July 1999, was given the task of continuing the work on its implementation. Click here for the relevant documents of the Cologne European Council: In June 1999, Germany and France initiated the development of the Eurocorps into a European Crisis Response Corps which is at the disposal of both NATO and the EU. The Declaration of the British-Italian Summit on 19-20 July 1999 called for setting a timetable to upgrade the military capabilities required to undertake crisis management operations. It also stressed the need to foster a harmonization of military requirements and collaboration in arms procurement. On 18 October 1999, former NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana became the European Union's first High Representative of the CFSP. During its Luxembourg ministerial meeting in November 1999, the WEU approved the results of an Audit of Assets and Capabilities for European Crisis Management Operations taking stock of existing military assets of the member states. The Audit concluded that while EU member states had in principle sufficient capabilities to conduct Petersberg missions, gaps and deficiencies needed to be overcome. The need for improvement was placed predominantly in the following fields:
At a General Affairs Council meeting on 15
November 1999, the Defense and Foreign ministers of the EU agreed that
the Helsinki Summit should adopt two reports on the progress of the
military and the non-military aspects of crisis-management. They also
authorized the appointment of the High Representative of the CFSP,
Javier Solana, as WEU Secretary-General. In the same statement, the GAC
made a brief reference to the European Armaments Policy.
Click here for an excerpt of the Protocol of the Meeting. The German-French Defense and Security Council in Paris announced that it expected the EU Summit in Helsinki to decide to develop an EU military crisis intervention force. Click here for the declaration (only in German). The European Council Summit in Helsinki on 10-11 December 1999 approved two reports of the Finnish Presidency. A report on military crisis-management capabilities set up a 'Headline Goal', establishing that by 2003 the EU should be able to deploy up to 60.000 soldiers within 60 days for at least one year. In this report, the Summit also agreed to develop EU structures for the planning and preparation of military missions. In contrast, a second report dealing with the development of non-military crisis-management capabilities did not outline any concrete 'Headline Goal'. But notably was the agreement to establish a “Rapid Reaction Facility / Mechanism”. It is supposed to provide mainly personnel and funding in situations where a quick response to avoid the evolution of a crisis into open conflict. The following presidency issued a proposal for a
Council regulation concerning the creation of a Rapid Reaction
Facility (RRF). The RRF would finance only non-military actions, which
should aim at the preservation or re-establishment of public order,
security and safety and the facilitation of dialogue, conciliation and
mediation in country or society. See the Helsinki European Council Documents here. While the Finnish Presidency had prepared
draft reports that carefully balanced military and non-military
capabilities to be developed by the Union, the four large EU-members
Britain, France, Germany and Italy made a common front for more rapid
progress in the military than in the non-military area. The reports
adopted in Helsinki were substantially different from the drafts
Finland had presented earlier. Click here for the drafts prepared by
the Finnish Presidency:
On 28 February 2000, Foreign and Defense Ministers met in Sintra, Portugal to prepare the ground for establishing the interim bodies that were to govern EU crisis-management missions. Click here to read the:
Click here for the Headline Goals and the GAC Statement. On 23-24 March, the Portuguese Presidency presented its draft report on the progress of CESD to the European Council in Lisbon, addressing the question of the future relationship between the EU "Rapid Reaction Force" and NATO. To read the Report by the Portuguese Presidency, click here. On 15-16 May, the WEU Council at Porto decided to grant the EU direct access to its capabilities for the conduct of Petersberg tasks. Click here to read the WEU Porto Declaration. On 22 May 2000 the General Affairs Council decided to set up a “Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis-Management”. To look at the decision, click here. For its part, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the establishment of a Common European Security and Defense Policy with a view to the European Council in Feira. While stressing that priority should be given to non-military crisis management, it welcomed the developments since the Pörtschach meeting and stated that the availability of a military instrument would broaden the Union's options in conducting its foreign policy. Click here to see the EP Resolution. On 19-20 June 2000 the European Council at Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal, officially released the documents prepared under the Portuguese EU Presidency. The modalities for participation of non-EU NATO members and EU accession candidates were released, and a ‘Headline Goal’ for Civilian Crisis Management was agreed. Importantly, four NATO-EU working groups were set up to conduct negotiations on permanent arrangements between both organisations, including the delicate issue of EU’s access to NATO capabilities. To see the Santa Maria da Feira European Council Documents, click here. In its statement of 10 July 2000, the General Affairs Council also makes a brief reference to the ESDP in the follow-up of the Feira Council meeting. A great deal of controversy was raised when the General
Affairs Council decided to adopt new rules for public access to
documents of the EU and the European Council. These rules allow to
classify and withhold classified documents as well as groups of
documents containing classified papers in total from public access. The
new rules entered into force on 23 August 2000.
Click here for the respective press releases or for details of the European Parliament decision to take the case to the European Court of Justice. Click here to see the "Solana Decision" (pdf-version available in German). It proposed that three members of the parliament should be given access to classified documents - the parliament's President, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a third MEP appointed jointly by the EP and the Council. See also the Regulation of the European Parliament and the European Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents of 30 May 2001 (pdf, also available in German). Meetings between the Interim Security and Political Committee and the Permanent North Atlantic Council began on 19 September 2000. The decisions on the transfer of the functions of WEU to the EU were completed at the WEU Council meeting in Marseille on 13 November. While WEU was kept as an organisation, it was deprived of all its operational capacity. Its mission consists of maintaining links with the Parliamentary Assembly, supporting the work of the Western European Armaments Group and safeguarding the mutual defense commitment of the Brussels Treaty. Check here for the WEU Marseille Declaration. The "Capabilites Commitment Conference" (also known as the "Force Generation Conference") was held on 20 November. EU members would provide a total of 80.000 rather than 60.000 soldiers for the Union’s Rapid Reaction Force. In addition to land forces, there will be fleets of 80 ships and 300-350 combat aircraft were identified to be put at the disposal of the Union. Not only EU member states made public their future force commitments, but also third countries - EU accession candidates and non-EU NATO members - were invited to announce possible contributions. Click here for:
Finally, the European Council at Nice (7-9 December 2000) adopted a comprehensive report on CESDP. Notably, it included a reference paper on conflict prevention by the EU. Click here for the documents adopted by the European Council at Nice:
In the last months, a great amount of effort is being directed
at working out the civilian conflict management structures and
elaborating a conflict prevention approach. The Commission recently tabled a Commmunication
to the Council on Conflict Prevention, 11 April 2001.Click here to
see Commissioner
Patten's remarks at a press conference on the same date. Previously,
Patten had held a Speech
on crisis management/ conflict prevention before the European
Parliament following a debate on the subject.
Click here for the European Parliament Resolution on the Commission communication on Conflict Prevention. See two interesting documents published on the eve of the Gothenborg Summit, on 12 June:
Also, the European Council adopted the Conclusions of the General Affairs Council on "EU-UN co-operation in conflict prevention and crisis management" and an "EU Statement on Strengthening the Organisation and increasing its relevance for the participating States" Following on the Commision Communication of 11 April , the Council approved the "EU Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflict", on whose implementation will be reported. As a follow-up to the Capabilities Commitment Conference in
2000, the General Affairs Council held the Capability Improvement
Conference (CIC) on 19 November.Having solved some shortcomings on the
list, the member states agreed on an European Capability Action Plan to
address the remaining shortfalls of the EU military capability. The
further progress will be monitored by the Military Committee. On 29 November, a UK-French Summit in London followed on the timetable. In the joint communique, both states' leaders expressed the expectation that a limited operational capability would be declared at the Council in Laeken. Further, they announced to tackle three of the shortcomings listed earlier by the CIC and renewed their commitment regarding the purchase of the military transport aircraft A400M in accordance with the agreed timetable and participation. At the European Council in Laeken in mid-December, the EU heads of state and government adopted the declaration on the operational capability, which declares the capability of the European Union for the conduct of some crisis-management operations. Additional progress has been made in the relations with Turkey concerning the use of NATO assets. But the so-called 'Ankara Agreement' reached with Turkey caused Greece to express reservations, which could not be dissolved during the summit. Further improvement of capabilities and of cooperation with NATO is supposed to enable the EU by 2003 to carry out the whole range of Petersberg Tasks. Excerpt from the Presidency
Conclusions, 15 December 2001 With the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the European Union has taken new steps to prevent a growth of the threat posed by violent extremist groups. Regardless of the fact that counterterrorism is an essential component of security policy, a significant amount of the measures considered and approved by the EU fall in the realm of the third pillar of the European Union; i.e. Justice and Home Affairs. Exceptions are the reexamination of the relations to third countries in the light of their stance on terrorism, the new linkage between the Common Security Defence Policy and the EU's effectiveness in the fight against terrorism, and the improvement of air transport security. While the European Union asserted the United States of its
support in the Joint
EU - U.S. Ministerial Statement on combating Terrorism in Washington
on 20 September 2001, it also started to increase its own measures to
meet the challenge.
Click here for the Presidency
Report on European Union action following the attacks in the United
States, 13 December 2001 New Council acts were adopted on the 27 December 2001. These regulations deal with the personal, financial, and otherwise material support of terrorist individuals or groups, with an annexed list of identified individuals and organizations. Another subject is the regulation of the freezing of financial assets. ----- 2002 ----- After witnessing the start of the Spanish presidency, its Minister of Defence, Federico Trillo, presented the Spanish Presidency's priorities for European Security and Defence. These include the institutionalization of EU Defence Ministers Councils, the last step to setting up the EU Rapid Reaction Force, and the application of international humanitarian law in the context of peace and security missions.
Second, the Informal Council of Defence Ministers in Zaragoza expressed the wish to take over the mission "Amber Fox" in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from NATO in the fall of 2002. But as of yet, the European Union has neither the agreement of the Macedonian side nor a final agreement with NATO over the use of its capabilities. On 13 May 2002 the defence ministers met for the first time in the framework of the General Affairs Council in Brussels. The Council examined all relevant aspects of the development of EU military capabilities as set out at Laeken: the Capability Development Mechanism; progress within the framework of the European Capability Action Plan and the Rapid Response Elements of the Helsinki Headline Goal. Javier Solana´s intervention on European Security and Defence Issues at the Ministers of Defense Meeting highlights the progress and underlines the need of further cooperation in the field of European military capabilities. The General Affairs Council´s meeting was followed by the first defence exercise of EU crisis management, denominated CME02, from 22 - 28 of May 2002. The operation marked an important step forward in the evaluation of the ESDP capacities. EU foreign affairs ministers finally settled the question of financing EU military operations on 17 June 2002. Non-military costs of EU military operations are to be financed from a common budget, while the military costs are considered as individual costs and will be financed on a ´costs-lie where they fall´ basis. The Spanish Presidency outlined in its Report on Implementation of the EU Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts (18 June 2002) the progress achieved since the adoption of the so called Göteborg programme in 2001. Short and long term prevention measures, intensified co-operation and partnership with other international organisations and the benefits of intercultural dialogue are the promissing cornerstones of Europe´s systemic approach to Conflict Prevention.
Section B: Inter-Parliament,
Government and other Official Reports.
Section C: Research and Policy Reports
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