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THE EUROPEAN UNION’S RESPONSE TO JIHADIST TERRORISM AND THE SYRIAN CONFLICT
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needed advances such as the assumption of a
common defence policy and military strategy,
the implementation of Permanent Structured
Cooperation, the reinforcement of the Europe-
an Defence Agency and shared capabilities, and
the creation of a European force structure, the
CFSP will always fall short of meeting the requi-
sites it must fulfil to be a military instrument of
the EU. And without such an instrument, it will
be difficult for the EU to play a decisive role in
the resolution of conflicts that affect it. The real-
ity is that the only real muscle the EU can use on
the international stage at present is its cheque-
book.
Europe is gradually beginning to act on the
evidence that we cannot eternally rely on others
to resolve our problems. On January 21, the Eu-
ropean Parliament approved a resolution to the
effect that the activation of the mutual defence
clause contained in Article 42.7 of the Treaty of
the European Union in response to petition on
the part of France provides grounds for creating
a strong and sustainable European Defence Un-
ion. The resolution states that the only way Eu-
rope will ever be equipped and prepared to take
on the serious threats and challenges to its in-
ternal and external security that it now faces is
to develop its own security and defence capa-
bilities. Amongst the various actions it asserts
must now be taken is the activation of a Euro-
pean Operational Headquarters. We hope that
this resolution passed by the only European in-
stitution elected by direct universal suffrage will
serve as a catalyst for progress towards the ob-
jective of a common defence capable of dealing
effectively with threats to the security of Euro-
pean citizens, the most serious at this moment
being the menace of jihadism.