THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
To be a global player the EU needs a complete power projection instrument
The future of the CSDP is power projection by Dr Giseppi Giaimo, Independent Security Consultant, Boston When one thinks of what the European Union represents, almost instinctively one conjures up images of cultural supremacy, of an economic engine that has created an expanding and strong trade bloc; however one does not immediately imagine a strong defence apparatus – this is normally associated with the United States. There is often a wide gap between perceptions and reality; and the same can be said with regard to the EU’s situation today. So how do we stand at present as regards the capacity for a Common Security and Defence Policy?
European security policy in the face of reality In most EU capitals there is now recognition of the political necessity of an EU defence apparatus and an expression of the political will to develop such a capacity. But is the EU ready to assume defence ambitions and missions in a volatile world, dominated since World War II by a forceful US and a passive EU? One needs only to look at the comments expressed by EU officials or to the EU’s past and future missions for an answer. In a move that would perhaps have been unthinkable just a decade or even a few years previously, when Germany took over the EU Presidency it placed Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon and Afghanistan at the heart of its defence agenda. So what exactly does all that translate into? Well, according to Andrew Rettman, a journalist for the EU Observer, the EU now has two units that can be deployed for crisis management anywhere in the world 10 days following a unanimous vote by the Member States on a decision that would “as a rule” follow a UN Securi-
Unloading material in Bamako for the French-Malian photo: Bundeswehr/F.Bärwald joint forces
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Dr Giseppi Giaimo based in Boston, Massachusetts, is an independent security consultant for strategic analysis for stakeholders in the area of security and defence. He studied in Paris for his M.A. (at the Schiller International University) and PhD (at the Centre d’Etudes Diplomatiques et Stratégiques) in International Relations and Diplomacy. From 2002 to 2003 he worked in Paris for the Notre Europe think tank (founded by Jacques Delors) as an Analyst and Consultant on the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and NATO. In 2006 he was a conflict resolution and security consultant for the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit of the United Nations Development Programme in Kampala, Uganda. In 2009 he worked for the Transnational Crisis Project in Washington, D.C. as Deputy Analyst for the Niger Delta.
ty Council resolution but that could also see the EU go it alone in what is known in EU parlance as “variable geometry”. Each EU battlegroup will comprise 1 500 soldiers from at least two or three different countries, who will partake in joint military exercises and wear both national and EU insignia.
Who can be a peacekeeping force? Before turning to the issue of a CSDP capability, it should once again be pointed out that the EU, and the EU alone, is the last bastion of hope for countries immersed in conflict like that which we are witnessing in Mali today. The UN is flawed from top to bottom, both politically and militarily, although in recent years it has conducted a much-needed reform in an effort to address its shortcomings. Nonetheless much remains to be done in order to make the UN truly effective as a peacekeeping force. Given the many political challenges that this poses for the UN, it is unlikely that the serious issues will ever be addressed, at least in the foreseeable future. The US, for its part, cannot effectively tackle world conflict due to the overwhelming importance it attaches to geo-strategic resources and to governments, preventing it from being an honest broker and a successful peacekeeping force. This leaves us, finally, with the African Union, unable to act as an effective fighting force to clamp down on African conflict. We recently witnessed the ineffectiveness of this force in Sudan and Somalia due to its lack of resources and manpower, and of fighting troops with practical peacekeeping experience.
A favourable role for the EU The EU, particularly in light of its historical colonial ties, is the only one with both the real ability and the willingness to
