- This article deals with the workings of European Union
foreign policy. For the relations between the European
Union and third countries, see Foreign relations of the
European Union.
The
Common Foreign and Security Policy
(
CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of
the
European Union (EU) for mainly
security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a
specific part of the
EU External
Relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial
Policy and other areas as
funding to third
countries, etc. Decisions require unanimity among
member states in the
EU's Council, but once
agreed, certain aspects can be further decided by
qualified majority
voting. The CFSP operates as the second of the
three pillars of the
European Union as established by the
Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.
The CFSP
sees the NATO
responsible
for the territorial defence of Europe and "peace-making" while
since 1999 the European Union is responsible for implementation
missions, such as peace-keeping and policing of treaties
etc.
History
Image:Pillars of the European Union.svg||thumb||The three pillars
constituting the European Union (clickable)rect 3 41 54 170
European Communityrect 65 42 115
170
Common Foreign
and Security Policyrect 126 42 176 170
Police and
Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters
1957–1992
Co-operation in international trade negotiations, under the Common
Commercial Policy, dates back to the establishment of the Community
in 1957. The CFSP itself has its origins in the formation of
European Political
Co-operation (EPC) in 1970. European Political Co-operation was
an informal consultation process between member states on foreign
policy matters, with the aim of creating a common approach to
foreign policy issues and promoting both the EU's own interests and
those of the
international
community as a whole. This includes promoting international
co-operation, respect for
human rights,
democracy, and the
rule of law.
1993–2009: pillar system
The weaknesses evident in EPC—apparent for example during the
Yugoslav wars—led to a desire to
strengthen foreign policy. This was consolidated in the Maastricht
Treaty, which entered into force in 1993 and established the
European Union. While the previously existing
supranational European Economic Community
became one of
three
pillars, two more pillars were erected. The second CFSP-pillar
is based on
intergovernmentalism, meaning unanimity
between members in the Council of Ministers and little influence by
the other institutions.
The
Amsterdam Treaty created the
office of the
High
Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (held
by
Javier Solana until 1 December
2009) to co-ordinate and represent the EU's foreign policy.
2009– :Consolidation
The
Treaty of Lisbon took effect in
December 2009 and brought an end to the pillar system. The CFSP
status as a "pillar" was hence removed. Furthermore, in an effort
to ensure greater coordination and consistency in EU foreign
policy, the Treaty of Lisbon created a
High Representative of
the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
de facto merging the post of
High
Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and
European Commissioner for External Relations and European
Neighbourhood Policy. The High Representative will be in charge
of an
External Action
Service that was also created by the Treaty of Lisbon. This
will essentially be a common Foreign Office or Diplomatic Corps for
the Union.
Objectives
According to the Treaty on European Union, Article 11, the European
Union defines and implements a common foreign and security policy
covering all areas of foreign and security policy, the objectives
of which shall be:
- to safeguard the common values, fundamental interests,
independence and integrity of the Union in conformity with the principles of
the United Nations
Charter;
- to strengthen the security of the Union in all ways;
- to preserve peace and strengthen international security, in
accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter, as
well as the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the objectives of
the Paris Charter, including those on
external borders;
- to promote international cooperation;
- to develop and consolidate democracy
and the rule of law, and respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Elements
Types of policy
The
European Council defines the
principles and general guidelines for the CFSP as well as common
strategies to be implemented by the EU. On the basis of those
guidelines the
Council of
Ministers adopts
joint actions or
common
positions.
Joint actions address specific situations
where operation action by the EU is considered necessary and lay
down the objectives, scope and means to be made available to the
EU. They commit the member states.
Common positions on the
other hand, define the approach that the EU takes on a certain
matter of geographical or thematic nature, and define in the
abstract the general guidelines that the national policies of
Member states must conform to.
High Representative
The High Representative, in conjunction with the
Presidency,
speaks on behalf of the EU in agreed foreign policy matters and can
have the task of articulating ambiguous policy positions created by
disagreements among member states. The Common Foreign and Security
Policy requires unanimity among the now 27 member states on the
appropriate policy to follow on any particular policy.
Disagreements in CFSP, such as those which occurred over the war in
Iraq, are not uncommon.
The High Representative also coordinates the work of the
European Union Special
Representatives. With the Lisbon Treaty taking effect, the
position became distinct from the
Secretary-General of the
Council of Ministers. The High
Representative serves as the head of the
European Defence Agency, the
Western European Union, and
exercises the same functions over the
European Security and
Defence Policy as the CFSP. On 1 December 2009, Catherine
Ashton took over
Javier Solana's post
as the High Representative, who has held the post since 1999.
Bodies
There are a number of bodies set up within the context of the CFSP.
Within the Council, there is the
General Affairs
and External Relations Council (GAERC) configuration,
essentially a meeting of
foreign
ministers and the
Political and Security
Committee or PSC, which monitors the international situation in
the areas covered by the CFSP and contributes by delivering
opinions to the Council of Ministers, either at its request or its
own initiative, and also monitors the implementation of agreed
policies.
The
European Defence Agency
(EDA) encourages increase in defence capabilities, military
research and the establishment of a European internal market for
military technology.
Two bodies carried over from the Western European Union (see defence,
below) are the European Union
Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the European Union
Satellite Centre
(EUSC), which deal with security and defence policy
and satellite imagery respectively.
Defence policy
Since the
Cologne
European Council in 1999, the
European Security and
Defence Policy (or ESDP) has become a significant part of the
CFSP. The EU itself has limited military capability, member states
are responsible for their own territorial defence and a majority of
EU members are also members of NATO which is responsible for the
defence of Europe.
There is also the
Western
European Union (WEU), which is a European security organisation
related to the EU. In 1992, the WEU's relationship with the EU was
defined, when the EU assigned it the "
Petersberg tasks" (humanitarian missions
such as peacekeeping and crisis management). These tasks were later
transferred from the WEU to the EU by the Amsterdam Treaty; they
formed part of the new CFSP and the
European Security and
Defence Policy. Elements of the WEU are currently being merged
into the EU's CFSP, and the President of the WEU is currently CFSP
High Representative.
Following the
Kosovo war in 1999, the
European Council agreed that "the Union must have the capacity for
autonomous action, backed by credible military forces, the means to
decide to use them, and the readiness to do so, in order to respond
to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO." To
that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EU's
military capability, notably the
Helsinki Headline Goal process. After
much discussion, the most concrete result was the
EU Battlegroups initiative, each of which is
planned to be able to deploy quickly about 1500 men each. EU forces
have been deployed on
peacekeeping
missions from
Africa to the
Balkans and the
middle
east.
EU military operations are supported by a
number of bodies, including the European Defence Agency, satellite
centre and the military staff.
Political and Security Committee
The Political and Security Committee (PSC or "COPS" from its French
acronym) first established as an interim body in 2000 is described
by the Nice European Council Conclusions as the "linchpin" of the
European Security
and Defence Policy and the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Its responsibilities include the drafting of opinions for the
General
Affairs and External Relations Council which is one of the
configurations of the
Council of the European Union,
and exercising "political control and strategic direction" of EU
crisis-management operations. The committee is a standing body and
is composed of national representatives of "senior / ambassadorial
level" and meets at least twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) in
Brussels. It is chaired by the member state that holds the rotating
Presidency of the
Council
of the European Union.
Outside the CFSP
Besides its own foreign and security policy, the Commission is also
gaining greater representation in international bodies.
Representation in international bodies is primarily through the
European
Commissioner for External Relations, who works alongside the
High Representative. In the UN the EU has gained influence in areas
such as aid due to its large contributions in that field (see
below). In the
G8, the
EU has the rights of membership
besides that of chairing/hosting summit meetings. The EU is
represented at the G8 by the presidents of the Commission and the
Council. In the
World Trade
Organisation (WTO), where all 27 member states are represented,
the EU as a body is represented by
Trade Commissioner.
The influence of the EU is also felt through the
enlargement. The potential
benefits of becoming a member of the EU act as an incentive for
both political and economic reform in states wishing to fulfil the
EU's accession criteria, and are considered a major factor
contributing to the reform and stabilisation of former Communist
countries in Eastern Europe. This influence on the internal affairs
of other countries is generally referred to as "
soft power", as opposed to military "hard
power".
The
European Union's influential economic status and its nation-like
characteristics has been acknowledged by the United States
' Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) in their publication, The World
Factbook. The EU was included in the
Factbook
in December 2004.
Humanitarian aid
The
European Community
humanitarian aid office, or "ECHO", provides
humanitarian aid from the EU to developing
countries. In 2006 its budget amounted to 671 million euro, 48% of
which went to the
ACP countries.
Counting the EU's own contributions and those of its member states
together, the EU is the largest aid donor in the world.
The EU's aid has previously been criticised by the think-tank
Open Europe for being inefficient,
mis-targeted and linked to economic objectives. Furthermore, some
charities have claimed European governments have inflated the
amount they have spent on aid by incorrectly including money spent
on debt relief, foreign students, and refugees. Under the
de-inflated figures, the EU did not reach its internal aid target
in 2006 and the EU would not reach the international target of 0.7%
of
GNP until 2015. However only a few countries
have reached that target.
In 2005 EU aid was 0.34% of the GNP which was
higher than that of the United States and Japan
. The
current
commissioner
for aid,
Louis Michel, has called
for aid to be delivered more rapidly, to greater effect, and on
humanitarian principles.
Neutrality
Although
the Irish
were reassured of their neutrality before agreeing
to the Nice Treaty, Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, on 5
July 2006 while speaking to the European
Parliament
as Council
President;
Nevertheless, a similar guarantee on Neutrality in relation to the
Treaty of Lisbon was granted to Ireland at the European Council of
the 18/19 June 2009:
The European Council also agreed that other concerns of
the Irish people, as presented by the Taoiseach, relating to
taxation policy, the right to life, education and the family, and
Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality, would be
addressed to the mutual satisfaction of Ireland and the other
Member States, by way of the necessary legal guarantees.[25029]
See also
Relations
Defence and military
Commission
Council
Representatives
Other
References
European foreign policy - from rhetoric to reality ? by
Dieter Mahncke (ed.), Peter Lang,
November
3 2004 - ISBN 90-5201-247-4
Keukeleire, S., & MacNaughtan, J. (2008).
The Foreign
Policy of the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.- ISBN 978-1-4039-4722-2
Orbie, J. (2008),
Europe's Global Role: External Policies of
the European Union. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Hill, C., & Smith, M. (Eds.) (2005)
International Relations
and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bretherton, C., & Vogler, J. (2006)
The European Union as a
Global Actor. London: Routledge.
- By Article 11 of the Maastricht Treaty.
- European Parliament Debate (English
Translation)europarl.europa.eu
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