110 / 169
THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
110
of the EU) with the aim of achieving the objec-
tive of strategic autonomy based on an autono-
mous defence capability”.
The main development of the last year is the
start of PESCO, and we will therefore analyse
the factors that facilitated this development, the
reasons behind it, and the scope and content of
this cooperation, which is already starting to
bear fruit.
We will also consider the question of EU-
NATO compatibility, given that the EU has his-
torically been a political and economic organiza-
tion, with additional security or crisismanagement
operations, but is now acquiring a defence func-
tion, while NATO has moved in the opposite di-
rection, starting out as a defensive organization
but also acquiring security functions. As a result,
it is possible that conflicts may arise.
Finally, we will consider Spain’s participation
in PESCO, along with the paradox of the British
position, which has shifted from opposition to a
desire to participate. We will also discuss the
lukewarm attitude of the United States, before
considering whether PESCO constitutes the first
step towards a European version of NATO,
which may be incompatible with the larger or-
ganization.
What is PESCO?
The idea of PESCO was first mooted at the
Convention on the Future of Europe (2002–
2003) and was reflected in the Draft Treaty estab-
lishing a Constitution for Europe. Although this
treaty never came into force, its key elements
found expression in the Treaty of Lisbon, with
Article 42.6 TEU referring to permanent coopera-
tion as follows: “Those Member States whose
military capabilities fulfil higher criteria and which
have made more binding commitments to one
another in this area with a view to the most
demanding missions shall establish Permanent
Structured Cooperation within the Union frame-
work”.
Protocol 10 (annexed to the TEU) established
that this cooperation would take effect by 2010.
However, TEU itself only actually came into
force in December 2009. As a result – and due
to a number of circumstances, in particular the
economic crisis – the Protocol did not take ef-
fect until December 2017.
The fundamental aim of PESCO is to imple-
ment the defensive alliance commitment estab-
lished in Article 42.7 TEU, which states: “If a
Member State is the victim of armed aggression
on its territory, the other Member States shall
have towards it an obligation of aid and assis-
tance by all the means in their power”. This ar-
ticle is very similar to Article 5 of the Washington
Treaty, which established NATO.
The EU has conducted more than 35 crisis
management operations, both civil and military,
since the start of the millennium, as part of the
CSDP. However, these operations were not per-
formed for the purposes of territorial defence.
The innovation introduced by Article 42.7 was
the obligation to defend the territorial integrity
of all Member States. To this end, the Treaty cre-
ated PESCO. The decisions taken in December
2017 were the start of the process of achieving
this objective.
The European Security Strategy, presented
on 28 June 2016, transformed this legal agree-
ment into a political commitment, obliging the
EU to defend its citizens and its territories. It es-
tablished the principle of strategic autonomy,
which means that within a period of five to ten
years the EU should have the necessary capacity
to respond to potential attacks autonomously.