Operation "Althea" in Bosnia and Herzegovine: the European security and Defence policy (ESDP) coming of age?

Résumé du document

Can the dramatic progresses in the late years be considered as a proof that ESDP has become a 'routine politic' with run in and tested mechanisms and procedures? In other words, does 'Althea' mean that ESDP is coming of age? The objectives of this operation reveals that its aims are mainly political rather than military and that many challenges are to be taken up.

Extraits

[...] the hearts and minds of the Bosnians” is therefore one challenge of “Althea”. That is why a seamless transition from NATO to the EU is highly desirable. B. A seamless transition from NATO to EU: proof of continuity This mission, foreseen for a long time, has been delayed several times due to US reserves about EU military capacities and the damaged transatlantic relations. In the end, at the Istanbul Summit of June 2004[22], NATO declared its willingness to end its Stabilisation Force (SFOR)[23] mission. [...]

[...] In April he froze the bank accounts and forbade travels abroad to about twenty people. However, these powers look likely to be abandoned with the improvement of the situation in the country. The importance of the role of the EUSR is the result of some lessons learned from EU fragmentation of action in the field in BiH and in respect to lessons learned between NATO's SFOR and EU-NATO civilian-military relations in the field. He is charged with: ensuring that EUFOR takes his political advice and directives into consideration; coordinating the EUPM and EUMM; holding regular meetings with other EU representatives like the Commission Delegation or the EU Presidency; coordinating all EU policy reporting from BiH and speaking on behalf of the EU in BiH. [...]

[...] The military operations are important test cases for the Union's ability to apply some of the security policy instruments it envisaged under the 1999 Helsinki Headline Goal. So they represent a major breakthrough for ESDP because for the first time the Union is proactively engaging in security affairs covering a variety of tasks that stretch from policing to military intervention marked the moment when the EU has tested its capacities, going into practice. It proved to be effective although they were limited-scope missions. [...]

[...] Other tasks are the fight against terrorism, the arrest of indictees of war crimes and intelligence services. It can be reasonably assessed that NATO didn't want to let the EU arrest the indictees in its place and been granted with international recognition so it insisted to keep a role in the hunting of war criminals What is more, the USA as well has maintained a residual presence there of about 250 people, in Tuzla, officially to serve as formation centre for other operations. [...]

[...] The fear exists that the departure of NATO and of American soldiers would cause insecurity to return. Nevertheless, this reluctance is more widespread in the Serb community than in the two others, as reports from ground officials noticed[17]. However, the security situation has improved considerably and a come back of ethnic conflict is unlikely. A proof of this can be seen in the return of half of some two million refugees[18] and the creation of joint central institutions. The main security challenges now are weapons smuggling, criminality, border security rather than the separation of combatants. [...]