Describe the major differences in interests and perspectives of the member states of the European Union on Iraq and the US policy

Résumé du document

The Iraq conflict uncovers difficulties for the member states of the European Union to find a common position in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This essay describes the major differences in the interest and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq, and the US policy. How can this situation in Common Foreign and Security Policy be explained by the Theories of the European Integration? What has to be done to improve this situation? The capacity of the European Union to acquire a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is one of the major issues in the European construction in the years to come. With the Economic and Monetary Union, the CFSP constituted as one of the main contributers for the Treaty of Maastricht. But, if the single currency is henceforth a reality, this is not already the case of the Common Foreign and Security Policy which fuels harsh criticisms, especially regarding its role in former Yugoslavia and during the war in Iraq. However, the improvements made are tangible. In the 70s the European political cooperation was already a small beginning of the CFSC. Today it is more than a simple pragmatic harmonisation .One could argue that the difficulties that is encountering the European foreign policy is not only due to institutional reasons, but due to the reluctances of the member states to renounce to a part of their sovereignty in the field. In order to better understand the mechanisms of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union and also the problems that are encountering this policy, I would like first to give a small overview of the facts that led to this, within the European Union concerning the war in Iraq. Then I would like to describe the major differences in the interests and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq, and the US policy. Finally, I will try to explain the historical and institutional backgrounds of the CFSP, in order to find some ways to improve this foreign policy situation in Europe.

Extraits

[...] For instance if you are working on a project for 6 years, you worked very hard on it and then new members come to your project group and aren't agree at all with your project and just causes you troubles .The matter is that in real life you do not go and joint a project if you do not agree with it. So we can raise the question that if the new members don't want to follow the example of the founder members why did they want to joint the European nation? To me this states should be grateful to enter Europe, the old member states have really no interest in their integration. [...]

[...] Describe the major differences in interests and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq and the US policy. How can this situation in Common Foreign and Security Policy be explained by the Theories of European Integration? What has to be done to improve this situation? Introduction : The capacity of the European Union to acquire a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is one of the major issues in the European construction in the years to come. With the Economic and Monetary Union, the CFSP constitutes one of the main contributions of the Treaty of Maastricht. [...]

[...] The German political Elite do not hide its bitterness anymore in front of American efforts to divide Europe on the question of Iraq. However, it would be a major mistake to consider Paris and Berlin position as an opposition of principle against the war in Iraq. These two governments accept the myth of these supposed massive destruction weapons of Saddam Hussein but they don't accept that this disarmament occurred under the exclusive control of America Schröder said several commentaries about the US policy that were not very diplomatic. [...]

[...] But is it really surprising as this is dealing with “high politics” and national sovereignty? The European Union is not a “political dwarf its capacity of action is not negligible. The fact that the Iraqi question has been a real failure for the European Union is incontestable. Do we have to put two and two together only because of one crisis, even if it was a serious one? The European Union tries to establish a common foreign and security policy that includes a military dimension through the common Security and defence Policy. [...]

[...] Of course it is obvious that the European constitution could be the best solution to avoid these divides. It could be a kind of “European users guide” and so every member would know how they have to react to any cases. Member states would have no other alternative than following the constitution guidelines. But of course that would be in a perfect world because the idea of a European Constitution will still take a long time to be accepted by all the member states. [...]