See also text of Declaration of the European Council, 3 June 1999

From 1 May this year the European Union has had new capacities for implementing its Common Foreign and Security Policy, or CFSP as it is known, as outlined in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1996. This is something for which many of those who have shaped the EU, and its predecessors the EEC and the EC, have been pushing for a long time, although it has rarely been the most visible part of the European agenda.

This paper outlines the CFSP, the EU and its relationship with NATO, and the changes in the structure of the arms trade in Europe that the EU is keen to see take place as part of these wider changes.  

WHILST there has been much public debate about the introduction of the Euro as a unit of currency, there has been little scrutiny in the UK of the rapidly and dramatically changing commitments our governments have made on our behalf in the field of European peace and security. The forthcoming elections to the European Parliament provide an opportunity to raise some of these issues with candidates and to bring them rather more fully into the public eye. The war in the Balkans indicates that there is an urgent need to develop European institutions that genuinely contribute to peace-building in areas of conflict.

The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)

Article B of the Common Provisions of the Treaty of European Union (Amsterdam Treaty) states that one of the objectives of the Union is to:
assert its identity on the international scene, in particular through the implementation of a common foreign and security policy, including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence.

The Amsterdam Treaty now in force provides for a High Representative for the CFSP, responsible for working with the European Council on formulating, preparing and implementating CFSP decisions. The High Representative will also have a Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit, whose function will include the analysis of international issues and their impact and pooling of information to help the EU produce "effective reactions to international developments."

The guiding principles behind this element of CFSP are detailed in the Petersburg Declaration of June 1992, which saw the Western European Union (WEU) developing into the EU's defence component. The Petersburg Tasks in the declaration are listed as:

• humanitarian and rescue tasks
• peace-keeping tasks
• tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking
  
  

The Quaker Council for European Affairs has recently been working on proposals for a mechanism to assist the EU in utilising the skills and expertise of the wide range of European non governmental organisations involved in non-military conflict-prevention and peace-building. (Follow this link to look at draft proposals for a European Peace Agency )

WEU, NATO and the ESDI

There have been moves recently to incorporate the Western European Union into the EU, but this raises difficult issues as the WEU includes non- EU members of NATO such as Turkey and Norway, and there are EU states who are not part of NATO. The role of the WEU was stated in a declaration of 1991 as being: ... the defence component of the European Union and as the means to strengthen the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance. To this end, it will formulate common European defence policy and carry forward its concrete implementation through the further development of its own operational role.

NATO wants to see a strengthened European military capability, giving this concept the title of European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI). This was seen, when it was put forward in 1994, as a description of the European pillar of NATO. British defence secretary, George Robertson, said in a speech on 10 March 1999: Our ultimate aim ... is not so much a European Security and Defence Identity but something altogether more ambitious - namely a European Defence Capability .... The tools provided by the Amsterdam Treaty will certainly help us to take a major step forward. ... But on their own they will not be enough. Europe has to be more ambitious, particularly where

military questions arise. Robertson goes on to explain how NATO is to be the preferred instrument for dealing with territorial defence but also for 'dealing with many lesser crises.'

The Washington Declaration of the NATO summit over 23-24 April 1999 ... welcome[d] the further impetus that has been given to the strengthening of European defence capabilities to enable the European Allies to act more effectively together, thus reinforcing the transatlantic partnership.

European military industry

A report published by the European Commission in November 1997 saw a "healthy and competitive European technological and industrial base" as being a prerequisite for a European Security and Defence Identity. It urged the development of an EU strategy for Defence Related Industries, recommending the progressive establishment of a "genuine European armaments' policy" and an Action Plan to this end.

The Commission's report was warmly endorsed by the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy earlier in 1999, stressing that it saw the importance of moving towards the establishment of a European Arms Agency. Collaboration and co-operation between European arms industries has been increasing significantly over the last two years, and the governments of those large arms-producing countries (such as the UK) have been keen to find ways of promoting this. European defence industries, like other industries, are seen as being in urgent need of restructuring if they are to withstand pressure from increasingly competitive merged US arms corporations. It has thus been suggested that these changes are actually being industry-led rather than government-led. From the words of two figures in European military production:

Will we properly exploit the opportunities that NATO and EU expansion will offer for increased prosperity and security in Europe? John Weston, British Aerospace Chief Executive, November 1998

A political union will provide the industrial base needed for a competitive presence in the European and worldwide defence markets by defining military requirements for joint procurement. Wolfgang Piller, Member of the Board of Management, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, November 1998  

Some suggested questions for candidates for Election to the European Parliament

• George Robertson, UK Secretary of State for Defence, has stated that he has a vision of a European defence capability. Do you share this vision? What are your views about the purpose and role of an eventual common defence policy?
• Do you have a view about how the EU's Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit can be used to encourage non-military means of preventing the outbreak and escalation of armed conflict?
• Given the lack of debate about the evolving relationship between the EU and NATO, do you recognise the need for more public scrutiny of these issues by all EU citizens, and what role do you see Members of the European Parliament taking in ensuring that discussions of such issues are more publicly accountable?
• Can you see scope for a significantly strengthened OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) so that peace and security are not defined purely in military terms?
• How do you view the support, expressed by the European Commission and the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy strengthening the military industrial base of Europe? Do you feel resources might be better committed to strengthening those things that make for peace rather than equipping us for armed conflict and an increasingly competitive role in the international arms trade?
Written for Northern Friends Peace Board by Philip Austin, Co-ordinator, May 1999