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THE DEFENCE POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A GLOBAL STRATEGY ON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY
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The Strategy takes as its starting point the
fact that the international defence and security
situation has changed, the world is a different
place, and the international security environ-
ment is less safe, less predictable and more
volatile. It states that “Europeans must be bet-
ter equipped, trained and organised to contrib-
ute decisively to such collective efforts, as well
as to act autonomously if and when necessary.
An appropriate level of ambition and strategic
autonomy is important for Europe’s ability to
foster peace and safeguard security within and
beyond its borders”.
Its most important contribution may be that
it transforms the legal obligation of mutual de-
fensive aid, established in article 42.7 TEU as
noted above, into a political commitment where
it states that “the European Union will promote
peace and guarantee the security of its citizens
and territory”. This converts the legal commit-
ment of the Treaty into a strategic objective of
the first order, one that implies a qualitative
change in the scope of defence policy, extend-
ing it from crisis management operations to the
defence of citizens and territories, an area that
was previously the exclusive responsibility of
member states.
The Global Strategy reiterates the concept of
a “European Security Strategy, a safe Europe in
a better world”, formulated in December 2002
by Javier Solana, the first High Representative.
However, also it contains two innovations: one
of these is the consequence of a new interna-
tional scenario of heightened threats which re-
quire the development of defence policy; the
other is more action-focused, taking the form of
what has been described as “values-based
pragmatism”.
Development and application of elements
of a European defence policy
The Global Strategy is based on values and is
designed for action. It draws on the vision and
ambition of a stronger EU, one that is both will-
ing and able to make a positive difference for its
citizens and the world. Despite the expectations
of some that it would never be more than
words, this approach has been implemented
rapidly through a number of measures.
– The Joint Declaration of the European
Commission and the Secretary General of
NATO, following the informal meeting of 27
EU Defence Ministers on 26 and 27
September 2016 in Bratislava, stating that
the EU and the Alliance are seeking a new
relationship based on mutual aid and coop-
eration, confirming a new climate and ac-
ceptance of the Global Strategy. The
Declaration contained a set of conclusions
adopted by the respective Councils, includ-
ing more than forty proposals.
– The European Defence Action Plan, adopted
by the European Commission and published
on 30 November 2016, elaborates upon the
Global Strategy for Foreign and Security
Policy. Its objective is to create the conditions
to convert the ambition of this Strategy into
actions. It presents a range of proposals, in-
cluding a common defence market and the
use of the EU budget to create a defence
union. The most ambitious proposal is the
creation of a European Defence Fund fo-
cused on research and capacity-building.
– The European Council of 15 December 2016
aimed to achieve permanent operational ca-
pacity for strategic planning and implemen-
tation, greater relevance and operational
capacity to use and deploy rapid response