2.2. The Role of the European Commission in the CSDP (Diego de Ojeda

2.2. THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN CSDP

by Diego de Ojeda

European Union 2019

Group photo of the Commission of Ursula von der Leyen: Ursula von der Leyen, Frans Timmermans, Valdis Dombrovskis, Margrethe Vestager, Josep Borrell, Věra Jourová, Margarítis Schinás, Maroš Šefčovič, Dubravka Šuica, Johannes Hahn, Didier Reynders, Mariya Gabriel, Stélla Kyriakídou, Kadri Simson, Jutta Urpilainen, Thierry Breton, Phil Hogan, Olivér Várhelyi, Paolo Gentiloni, Virginijus Sinkevičius, Helena Dalli, Janusz Wojciechowski, Elisa Ferreira, Adina Vălean, Janez Lenarčič, Ylva Johansson

Although – contrary to most other EU policy areas – the role of the European Commission in the CSDP is secondary to that of the High Representative and the Member States, the Commission remains an essential actor in fully attaining CSDP goals. Indeed, Article 21(3) of the Lisbon Treaty calls upon the Council and the Commission, assisted by the High Representative, to cooperate to ensure consistency between the different areas of the Union´s external action, and between those areas and its other policies. This is without prejudice to the distinctive competences of each institution and both CFSP and non-CFSP decision-making procedures, as per Article 40.

The ‘consistency’ principle was established in the December 2013 Joint Communication on the EU Comprehensive Approach and the ensuing May 2014 Council Conclusions and further developed in the June 2016 Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. The idea is simple: the CSDP is not to act in isolation from other EU external actions and instruments. On the contrary, a strategically coherent use of EU tools and instruments requires that it acts in sync with non-CFSP instruments managed by the Commission as a result of its responsibility to implement the EU budget (Articles 317 and 318 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU).

During the 2014-2020 budgetary cycle, nonCFSP EU external instruments included the geographic Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the Development Co-operation Instrument (DCI), as well as the extra-budgetary European Development Fund (EDF). The thematic Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP), the Partnership Instrument (PI), the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Co-operation (INSC) and the DCI thematic programmes also belong to this category.

In addition, under the authority of the High Representative acting in his/her capacity as Vice-President, the Commission also implements the CFSP budget, which finances CSDP civilian missions, EU Special Representatives and non-proliferation and disarmament projects. Furthermore, the Commission manages other, somewhat related external action policies such as international trade and humanitarian assistance, as well as internal policies with substantial and growing external dimensions – security, migration, climate, energy, transport, space, defence internal market, etc. – which are relevant to the Union´s foreign, security and defence policy. Thus, the Commission fully participates in the PSC and all Council bodies – including CivCom, PMG The Berlaymont building houses the headquarters of the European and the EUMC – discussCommission. ing and preparing the decisions of the Foreign Affairs Council in its different configurations: FAC, FAC Defence, FAC Development and FAC Trade. Through a number of mechanisms, Commission services are increasingly able to make their input available to the EEAS when preparing CSDP interventions. Examples include the Crisis Platform chaired by the EEAS, which brings together all of the relevant services when necessary, and the Political Framework for a Crisis Approach (PFCA), which is now a mandatory step in the process that may lead to deciding to establish a CSDP mission following the completion of all other planning steps, to which Commission services also contribute.

Jochen Rehrl

In short, the Commission is not only an important actor when it comes to implementing the CSDP, directly – managing the budget – and indirectly – ensuring coordination with non-CSDP instruments – but it is also a substantial contributor to the interdepartmental process leading to the preparation of CSDP interventions and their discussion in the Council.

Of course, there is still much left to do to fully deliver a truly comprehensive EU approach. The double-hatting of the HR/VP and the establishment of the EEAS by the Lisbon Treaty were revolutionary steps that, with hindsight, inevitably required some time for the intended gains to emerge. In addition to the non-negligible human, logistic and organisational aspects, the full assimilation of and adjustment to the changes in roles and competences could not take place overnight. However, it can be argued that the transition period was completed in the autumn of 2014, when Jean-Claude Juncker took office as President of the European Commission and included the goal of making the EU a stronger global actor as one of the ten political priorities of his Commission. In parallel, he decided to set up the Commissioners Group for External Action, chaired by HR/VP Federica Mogherini, to discuss all EU external action issues with other relevant Commission Vice-Presidents and Commissioners as appropriate, without prejudice to the decision-making competences of the college of Commissioners.

More recently, President Von der Leyen made a stronger Europe in the world one of the six headline ambitions of the new Commission with a view to ensuring a coordinated approach to all of the EU’s external action, from development aid to the Common Foreign and Security Policy, working hand in hand with HR/VP Borrell to this end, including – in her words – “an integrated and comprehensive approach to our security” and “further bold steps in the next five years towards a genuine European Defence Union

Indeed, the greater consistency achieved at the political level now trickles down to services and to regional, national and thematic common strategies that the High Representative and the Commission discuss and prepare with a view to their submission for endorsement to the Council and the Parliament and which increasingly guide EU external action, including the CSDP.

There should be no room for complacency, however, at least not at this stage, so soon after the Lisbon Treaty (in historical terms). Substantial ground has been covered already: now, the left and right hands of EU external action are aware of what the other is doing. But the goal is for them to go forward hand in hand, not merely in parallel, and the plurality of intense international crises, particularly within the Union’s neighbourhood, suggests that the Integrated Approach must be deepened further in order to reap the synergies that remain to be attained.

The military dimension is particularly important in this respect. On the one hand, the Commission does not have competence in the area of defence or military resources. In addition, Article 41.2 TEU explicitly forbids EU budgetary funding of any expenditure directly or indirectly arising in the context of military operations.

Nonetheless, in December 2017 the Council and the Parliament adopted the Commission proposal to amend the regulation of the IcSP (see above) so as to allow the funding of “Capacity Building in support of Security and Development”

European Commission

The college of Commissioners, comprised of the 27 Commissioners, meets at least once per week (in general on Wednesday mornings).

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024_en

interventions as a last resort under very specific circumstances (e.g. ‘failed’ states), where military actors may be the only ones available to carry out developmental activities, in line with recent policy developments in the context of the OECD development policy.

Moreover, the Council is discussing the proposal of the High Representative, supported by the Commission, to establish the off-budget European Peace Facility that will substantially expand the scope of the military assistance that the EU will be able to provide to its external partners, part of which will be implemented by Commission services. In parallel, the services of the Commission will continue to actively contribute to bring forward the implementation of the 2016 and 2018 EU-NATO Joint Declarations and the Set of Common Proposals including on Countering Hybrid Threats, cybersecurity or disinformation, to name but a few. Finally, the Commission is actively implementing the two pilot defence research and capability development programmes – the Defence Research Preparatory Action and the European Defence Industrial Development Programme – that will give way to the more ambitious European Defence Fund as of 2021. These programmes are already enhancing cooperation between Member States’ defence industries and promoting a greater pooling of national defence resources for the joint development of defence capabilities. The direct relevance for the CSDP of all of the above initiatives is quite clear, as is the European Commission’s role in developing them or contributing to their implementation in its areas of competence. The security of the Union and of its citizens is obviously also a top priority for the European Commission, both externally, including through the CSDP and nonCFSP instruments, and internally, by enhancing synergies with the external dimension of the Union’s internal policies and with other relevant policies. In this context and with full respect of the competences assigned to each institution, the Commission plays, and will continue to play, a fully active role in this area in the best interests of the EU and its citizens.