To what extend is the EU's role as a civilian power compatible with its enhanced military commitments?

Résumé du document

"As a union of 25 States with over 450 million people producing a quarter of the world's Gross National Product (GNP), the European Union is inevitably a global player. It should be ready to share in the responsibility for global security and for building a better world". This quotation of Javier Solana, the European Union's high representative, is clearly a good illustration of the goals developed by the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (CFSP). As the second pillar of the European Treaty of Maastricht (1993) the CFSP is based on five main objectives, (renewed by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997)2 which are all linked with the establishment of security areas inside and outside the European Union. Moreover, this aim of security is also correlated with the principle of defense, which is developed and organized inside the European Union's Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). These policies are based on the two principles of security and defense; and appear as instruments for the development of a European military commitment. Nevertheless, before talking about the European Union's military engagement in the Common Foreign and Security Policy, we must try to define precisely the two notions of security and defense. This attempt at providing definitions appears as an essential fact in order to determine the range and the scope of these two main European policies.

Extraits

[...] The European Union should develop above all its civilian power, negotiations and non-military sanctions, to use its military force only in case of emergency and under the control of the structures created by the CFSP. Bibliography Internet The European Union on line: http://europa.eu.int/ RFI (Radio France International) : http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/051/article_27001.asp Article online of Karen E Smith: http://www.arena.uio.no/cidel/WorkshopOsloSecurity/Smith.pdf Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la sécurité : http://www.grip.org/bdg/g4528.htm Officials documents A secure Europe in a better world-The European security strategy, Javier Solana high representative December 2003. [...]

[...] Thus, the notion of civilian power appears as: “non-military, and includes economic, diplomatic and cultural policy instrument”3. It is the issue of an eventual compatibility between the two concepts that we are trying to study inside our analysis of the European Foreign Policy's recent transformations. Indeed, our study will focus first, on the historical establishment of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, with the intention to present the recent evolutions of the European Union towards a more strong military engagement. [...]

[...] Nevertheless, as an example, of the European civilian power's actions, we can note the sanctions inflicted by the European Union to Togo since 1993. Indeed, because of a “lack of democracy” during the elections and a “lack of cooperation” the Union had decided to stop its collaboration with Togo, in order to force the African government toward a more democratic policy. Today, because of these sanctions which are still in practice, the government has taken some decisions in accordance with the principle of democracy. [...]

[...] Howorth, J & Menon, A. (1997). European Union and national defence policy. London, Routledge. Kjell A. Eliassen, (1998). Foreign and security policy in the European Union. London: SAGE publications. [...]

[...] This tussle against terrorism and organised crime is a good example of the utilisation of the European civilian power. Indeed, even if a military intervention is possible, the struggle against terrorism is above all based on civilian items. As an illustration, economic sanctions or suppression of trade and aids agreements would be made in order to condemn countries which do not develop a sufficient policy against terrorism in their own country. The issue of terrorism is also linked with the question of illegal immigration. [...]