Emergence of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common

Security and Defense Policy

Although the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and
Defense Policy (CSDP) are called "EU policies", the definition and intellectual background of
the "classical" European Security and Defense Policy do not have the characteristics of
"common policies" of the Union. These policies are “international” policies aiming to ensure
coordination and cooperation between EU Member States in foreign, security and defense
matters. For example, the functioning mechanism of the CSDP ensures that each member state
can protect its interests to the maximum extent.
The emergence of CSDP was not based on a main definition in the treaties, as the institutional
structure of CSDP was created with Presidency reports instead of agreements. Until the 2007
Lisbon (Reform) Treaty, provisions regarding CSDP were not included in EU Treaties. The
CSDP can identify it with military and civilian crisis management because the country defense,
national administrations, and collective defense for NATO members are left to NATO. In other
words, NATO is recognized by Europeans as the cornerstone of the European security structure.
The CSDP project has not been put forward with the aim of establishing a "common European
security area".
On the one hand, today, no EU Member State is under direct threat of invasion, so the issue of
country defense can be considered as "yesterday's concept" for the EU, on the other hand, "crisis
management, civilian rescue, political and economic stabilization, police affairs, etc." tasks
have priority. Due to the fact that there are loyal "Atlanticist" states such as England and
Denmark among the EU members and neutral states such as Ireland and Finland, it does not
seem possible for the EU to gain the character of a NATO-like military alliance. For example,
at the 2002 Seville European Council, a special Irish declaration was adopted emphasizing that
the CFSP and the CSDP would not harm the traditional military neutrality of Ireland. Although
the "mutual solidarity clause" included in the 2007 Lisbon (Reform) Treaty emerges as an
important indicator of the EU's will to create a "common security area", this provision in no
way transforms the EU into a defense organization. While Europeans keep their political,
economic, socio-cultural powers in the foreground, they keep the military capabilities
developed within the framework of the CSDP in the secondary field, the EU's military
capabilities constitute a part of the "inclusive" and "integrated" perspective on crisis
management operations. In other words, CSDP has emerged as a "limited instrument of EU
foreign policy" serving the EU, not "Greater Europe". In general, the major members of the EU,
which are the biggest supporters of CSDP, tend to see the policy as an "additional mechanism"
that supports their national strategies in foreign and security policy issues.
However, many European politicians and thinkers also want to see "United Europe" as a global
power that will balance the U.S.. For example, after the invasion of Iraq, in May 2003, Jacques
Derrida and Jürgen Habermas published a statement in the German and French press demanding
"the establishment of a Europe that will balance the U.S.".1 Parallel to the European public
opinion protesting the US unilateral and military use-based Iraq policy, some European leaders

1
Toje A., (2005), ‘The 2003 European Union Security Strategy: A Critical Appraisal’, European Foreign Affairs
Review, vol 10(1), p. 129.
also argued that it is time to review the nature of transatlantic relations and the EU's role in
international relations, a “strong Europe '' that could balance the United States, which pursues
unilateral policies. By adopting its own Security Strategy in December 2003, the EU showed
that it wants to balance the U.S., which follows unilateral and militarist policies.
Europe's desire to "balance" America should be understood as its desire to re-establish the Euro-
Atlantic alliance based on real "partnership relations" through the effective CFSP and CSDP.
Therefore, it is highly likely that Europe will take place as a power centre that plays a
complementary/supportive role for the global leadership of the U.S. within the reshaped
transatlantic alliance rather than being formed as a pole against the U.S..2

2
Dalgaard-Nielsen, A., (2004). ‘Looking to Europe: American Perceptions of the Old World’, Cooperation and
Conflict, Vol. 39 (1), p. 74.