The European Union’s (EU) integration in foreign policy and security matters has passed several crisis and important developments from the beginning of the integration. The EU created Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) mechanism in 1992 and made a significant move by including European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) dimension to the CFSP mechanism in the late 1990s. In the post-September 11 period, the EU’s foreign and security policy entered into a difficult phase. In this period, there are three key events which have affected the CFSP of the EU: Iraqi crisis, European Security Strategy in 2003 and the EU Constitution. But before identifying these events, it is very crucial to make a historical analysis of the political integration of the EU in order to understand its policy after September 11.
For more than 50 years the states of Western Europe have been involved of cooperation and integration with varying degrees of success. This process began almost immediately after the Second World War by making a collective defence agreement between France, Britain and three Benelux countries on the basis of the Brussels Treaty in 1948. Afterwards, negotiations began with the United States and Canada to extend the Brussels Treaty into a transatlantic defence agreement. The result was the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 and considered as the birth of NATO.
After establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, the Western European leaders seek to establish European Defence Community which failed due to national concerns of France. In 1970 European Community (EC) entered a new phase when the member states of the EC set up a procedure called European Political Cooperation (EPC) for coordinating the foreign policies of the member states. This process established on intergovernmentalist lines and extended European integration into a new area of activity.
The establishment of the EPC is very crucial in the political integration of Europe. The Western states of the Europe started to harmonize their foreign policies with this mechanism and it assisted the establishment of CFSP. In 1986, the EPC mechanism was involved in founding treaties with signing of Single European Act. Consequently, the CFSP was established in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) in 1992 as the second pillar. The common view on foreign policy and security issues between member states in TEU, protected its intergovernmentalist character as it was in EPC.
In this framework, there have always been disagreements between member states about the position stance of CFSP. On the one hand Germany and France were willing to include CFSP into the Community decision-making mechanism; on the other hand the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Portugal known as Atlanticists, are opposed to this idea. This problem in the foreign policy of the EU has continued in the late 1990s and became the main issue which has been obstructing a single and coherent foreign policy for the Union.
Briefly, there are efforts for a common foreign policy in the EU for more than 50 years and the degree of political integration is highly debated issue among the member states. In addition to this, the fragmentations between member states became more visible after ESDP was formulated. The most debated issue in this field is the role of ESDP. In this context, France and the UK have different views of ESDP. While France is considering ESDP as a potential challanger to the USA, the UK wants to preserve the close ties with the US. France wants ESDP to act independently from NATO, whereas the UK wants close cooperation with the USA in the ESDP areas. These views show that the member states have different views in common foreign and security policies when the EU enters a new era.
Post-September 11: Iraqi Crisis, European Security Strategy and the Constitution
In the post-September 11 period three important developments affected the foreign policy of the EU. These are Iraqi crisis, European Security Strategy and the Constitutional Treaty.
First of all, Iraqi crisis have large implications on the common foreign policy of the Union. After the US government decided to bring the Iraqi issue to the UN Security Council, the divergence among the member states about the foreign policy issues became more visible. The UK, Spain and Central and Eastern Europe Countries (CEEC) which are also called as Atlanticists supported the US policies. On the other hand, Germany and France called as Europeanists opposed a unilateral intervention to Iraq.
As it is stated above, there have always been divergences in formulating common foreign policy for the Union. The distinctions over Iraq in Europe made these disticntions more segregated. Furthermore, these divisions have been described in terms of a divergence between the "old Europeans”, built around the Franco-German relationship and the "New Europeans” meaning the former communist states from CEEC but also, the UK and Spain. So, different responses from Europe during the Iraqi crisis showed that there is a huge gap between the attitudes of the member states which means a common foreign policy for the EU seems very difficult.
Secondly, European Security Strategy is an important development concerning the common foreign and security policy of the Union in the post-September 11 era. In December 2003, the EU presented its security strategy to provide guidance for Europe’s common foreign, security and defence policy. The purpose of the strategy is to define Europe’s own security identity. Moreover it reflects the increasing awareness that Europeans need to employ their power more effectively in the service of international security. So it carries a huge importance for the common foreign and security policy for Europe in post-September era.
In this strategy the leaders of the EU focused on vital issues like global challenges, key threats, international order and transatlantic relationship. By focusing global challenges the Security Strategy adopts a problem-solving perspective that transcends traditional geographic and conceptual limitations of European strategic thinking. Moreover, by identifying terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, state failure and organized crime as key threats, the security strategy is a summary of the international strategic experience of the last two decades that can hardly be disputed. By expressing Europe’s desire for a rule-based international order based on effective multilateralism, international law, and the UN Security Council, the Security Strategy offers Europe’s active support for effective multilateral measures and demands reciprocal commitment to multilateral cooperation from the major global actor, the US, as a necessary precondition for successful partnership.
So, as indicated above, the Security Strategy is very important in the post-September 11 period for the EU’s common foreign and security policy as it redefines and analyses the internal and external aspects of security.
Thirdly, the Constitutional Treaty is an important development for the common foreign and security policy for Europe. The Constitution predicts some major changes in the CFSP mechanism which assist EU to become a global actor. In this framework, creation of the position of EU Foreign Minister and the elimination of the pillar structure are among the most important changes for the CFSP. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assists EU to follow a coherent and consistent foreign policy in the international order. Furthermore, the economic and political aspects of the EU’s foreign policy are going to be merged with the elimination of pillar structure.
Although the CFSP mechanism is introduced a series of changes by the constitution, it protects the intergovernmental character which means the national concerns of the member states still play an important role in formulating a common foreign policy.
In addition to this, the constitution of Europe cannot be applied due to the fact that France and the Netherlands said "no” in their referendums. So, in the post-September 11 period the EU missed the opportunity to benefit from the positive regulations of the constitution.
As a result, the Iraqi crisis, Security Strategy and the Constitutional Treaty are the most important events which affected the CFSP of the EU in the post-September 11 period. The leaders of the EU tried to harmonize different approaches among the member states by preparing Security Strategy and the Constitution. After the Iraqi crisis, EU divided into two camps as Europeanists and Atlanticists. The newly member states of the Union contribute to deeping of this fragmentation and it became very hard to establish a common view in foreign affairs. Thus, Security Strategy and the Constitution aimed to reduce the different views among member states. Moreover, this issue is also related with the global chracter of the EU. Unless the EU formulate CFSP pillar in supranational terms, it will not become a global actor. Namely, EU as a global actor in the post-September 11 period depends on the institutional reform by leaving intergovernmentalist lines within the EU.
Emre Ozkan, ISRO/USAK EU Relations Researcher
Kerry Longhurst ve Marcin Zaborowski, "Old Europe, New Europe and Transatlantic Security Agenda,” European Security, Volume 13(4), Kış 2004, s. 188.
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