Vienna European Council, 11-12 December 1998

Résumé du document

In 1998, the European Council was not a community institution yet. It was an intergovernmental institution made up of the Heads of States and Governments of the Member States and of the President of the Commission. Its fundamental role was and still is to define the general political direction and priorities of the European Union and also to express common positions about foreign relations. Considering this, the questions I am going to address in the brief analysis are: In what context did the Vienna European Council take place? What concrete outcomes did it bring? And what implications did it have for ESDP?

Extraits

[...] Analysis of a central document in the set-up of ESDP Presidency conclusions: Vienna European Council, 11-12 December 1998 Introduction: In 1998, the European Council was not a community institution yet. It was an intergovernmental institution made up of the Heads of States and Governments of the Member States and of the President of the Commission. Its fundamental role was and still is to define the general political direction and priorities of the European Union and also to express common positions about foreign relations. [...]

[...] It also invites the Council to develop common strategies and supports the work done by the Council in the creation of a Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit within the General Secretariat. It confirms the desire of Europe to play its full role on the international stage and to have credible operational capabilities but it reaffirms that Europe wants to avoid unnecessary duplication. The European Council also affirms that it is taking into account the national interests and the obligations of some members toward NATO. [...]

[...] It was also the first time that the European Council mentioned the term in its discussions. Implications: The main impact of this Council was that it prepared the implementation of the treaty of Amsterdam signed, as we could see, in 1997 which was finally discussed in Cologne six months later. Even if it often is eclipsed, this European Council is before all a pivotal and decisive moment in the set-up of ESDP because it prolongs the dynamics impulsed by Saint-Malo with a remarkable reactivity and formalizes the launching of the European Defence. [...]

[...] Therefore, Europe was facing a security dilemma. The EU did not want to remain considered a simple common market and aspired to “play its full role on the international stage”, that is to say: to emerge as a strong political actor. These three factors put together prove that the context in which the Vienna European Council took place was a context of a growing need of security autonomy for the European Union. This need had incidentally accelerated the process of creation of the European Security and Defence Policy. [...]