The objectives of the CSDP are defined by article 42 of the TEU. This stipulates that the EU can use civil and military means outside the Union “for peace-keeping, conflict prevention and strengthening international security in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”.

Without undermining the specific nature of each Member State’s security and defence policies (particularly within the framework of NATO, of which 21 Member States are members), the CSDP also has the aim of eventually achieving a common defence policy.

Several permanent structures are involved in the CSDP: made up of representatives from states, the Political and Security Committee (PSC) has political and strategic control of crisis management operations, under the authority of the Council and the High Representative. They receive advice and recommendations from the European Union Military Committee (EUMC). The European Union Military Staff (EUMS) plan, carry out and implement the decisions. The Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) ensures the management of civil operations.Decisions regarding common security and defence policy are, like most Common Foreign and Security Policy decisions, adopted unanimously by the Council of the European Union and the European Council. The European Council “identifies the Union's strategic interests, determines the objectives of and defines general guidelines for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, including for matters with defence implications”.

Like the CFSP, the CSDP is implemented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This person, as well as each Member State, can propose a decision to the Council.

The High Representative must regularly consult the European Parliament on the principal aspects and fundamental choices of the CFSP and the CSDP to ensure that Parliament’s opinions are taken into consideration. The Parliament can also ask questions of or make recommendations to the Council and the High Representative of the Union, and it organises a debate twice a year on the progress made in implementing the CFSP, including the CSDP.

Although the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the 1998 Franco-British Saint-Malo summit initiated the development of a real policy for European defence. The “European Security and Defence Policy” (ESDP), then integrated into the CFSP, was thus created the following year in order to collectively manage international crises using military and civil instruments.

The European Union carries out the following missions (known as “The Petersberg Tasks”):

• Humanitarian and rescue tasks




• peace-keeping tasks




• tasks of combat forces in crisis management

The Lisbon Treaty dramatically changed the ESDP, which is now known as the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), in order to support the community aspect of defence. Three types of changes have been made under the treaty : 

The European Defence Agency (EDA)

In order to progressively improve their military capacity, in 2004 Member States created a European Defence Agency (EDA).

Formally established by the Lisbon Treaty, the EDA aims to develop defence capacities in the area of crisis management and to promote and strengthen European cooperation regarding arms.

It also aims to strengthen Europe’s industrial and technological base in the area of defence, to create a competitive European market for defence equipment and to promote research. With the exception of Denmark, all Member States participate in this.

Permanent structured cooperation

In order to bypass the obligation for unanimity in several domains, the Member States can come together in small groups in order to establish “enhanced cooperation".

With the Lisbon Treaty, this type of cooperation can be used in the area of European defence. The “permanent structured cooperation”, reserved for Member States whose defence efforts are greatest, includes countries who wish to pool their investment, bring together their defence tools, strengthen interoperability of materials and participate in equipment programmes as part of the EDA.

In parallel, the existing multinational forces (Eurocorps, Eurofor etc.) are integrated into the framework of the Union.

Furthermore, the Council can also (with unanimity and under certain conditions) entrust a military mission to a group of Member States if it so wishes. Management of such a mission also involves the High Representative of the Union.

The mutual defence clause

Using the NATO treaty as a main inspiration, the Lisbon Treaty introduced an obligatory mutual defence clause for all Member States which means that “if a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States will give it aid and assistance by all the means in their power”.

When CFSP operational spending concerns operations which have military and defence implications, the financing is ensured by Member States’ national budgets.

This financing mechanism, known as Athena, enables the European Union to finance military operations and, particularly, rapid-response operations (humanitarian and rescue tasks).

All Member States participate in this system except Denmark which ‘opts out’ of CSDP issues.

The European Union is capable of running crisis management operations with a "rapid reaction force" of up to 60,000 personnel and with the appropriate command structures. It can also provide up to 5,000 police for the civil aspects of crises management – 1,000 can be deployed within 30 days.

The EU is today present on four continents through various crisis management missions :

• military operations :
  
  The first ESDP military mission was the ARTEMIS mission (from June 12th to September 1st 2003) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It aimed to bring calm and stability to the Bunia region and to enable the transport of humanitarian aid.The EU led a maritime military operation against piracy in Somalia (EUNAVFOR – Atalanta, 1,500 personnel) and a military operation in Bosnia (ALTHEA – 2,000 personnel). These were independent operations that were carried out without using NATO's collective means and capacities.

• civilian crisis management missions :
  
  police missions and missions to support the security forces: in Bosnia (EUPM: European Union Police Mission), in the Congo (EUPOL Kinshasa for the training of police), in Iraq (EUJUST LEX for the training of judges, magistrates and police), and in Palestine (EUPOL COPPS for police training).
  
  border control assistance missions and missions to supervise peace agreements: in Indonesia (Aceh accord with East Timor), in Rafah (monitoring the border point between the Gaza strip and Egypt), in Moldova (monitoring the border between Transnistria and the Ukraine), in Georgia (observation mission to stabilise the region).

• civilian crisis management and military missions :
  
  Two missions combine military and civil operations with the aim of helping security sector reform: in Guinea-Bissau (EU SSR) and in the Congo (EUSEC).

Sources

EU Common Security and Defence Policy - – Council of the European Union

To find out more

CSDP Mission Analysis Partnership - Isis Europe

Europa – Summary of EU Legislation (SCADPLUS): : Foreign Policy and Security -  European Commission

Useful addresses

Assembly of WEU, Western European Union -43 Avenue du President Wilson – 75775 Paris cedex 16 – Tel: +33 (0)1.53.67.22.00 - Fax: +33 (0)1.53.67.22.01 -  info@assembly.weu.int

Mise à jour : 19/03/10