The European Union establishes a European Security and Defence Policy

The failure hitherto to create a European armed force either within the WEU [Western European Union] or within the EU cannot be blamed on NATO or the United States. It happened because there was no political will on the part of Europe. The decisions adopted in 1999 are the first step towards a major change in this regard. In the new European security environment, the European states deem it desirable, possible and realistic to take the initiative and play in the future on the European continent a role commensurate with that played in the past by the United States. EU political integration has reached a level that enables it to develop a collective European capability for crisis management operations. Multinational planning and harmonization of military requirements and procurement will furthermore increasingly encourage thinking in broader common European terms instead of narrow, national security interests.

The question now arises whether a European security and defence policy as decided at Cologne and Helsinki will strengthen or weaken the EU-NATO relationship and in a broader sense the transatlantic relationship. . .

The Security General of the European Council and High Representative for the CFSP [Common Foreign and Security Policy], Javier Solana, firmly believes that the ESDP will consolidate European-US relations. To support this, he has put forward several arguments: the new agenda will reassure the North American allies that Europe is doing 'what they have urged us to do for decades'; there will be no duplication, since the role of NATO is collective defence and that of the EU crisis management; the Defence Capabilities Initiative adopted in Washington and the EU's objectives are complementary; and they have the same aims-'greater modernisation, professionalisation, strict resource priorities, closer cooperation among leading nations in each sector, interoperability, intra-European burden-sharing and perhaps some task specialisation'.

Finally, the Cologne and Helsinki decisions herald significant changes in the organization of Europe's armed forces, moving from monolithic standing armies towards the creation of a rapid-reaction capability. This, however, is a matter for the distant future. The goal for the foreseeable future is not to create a European army but to improve existing national forces and multinational units and formations. At present the aim is to organize not collective defence within the EU but arrangements for a common European policy on security and defence. The new European military capability should also, and probably will, be complemented by the development of a civilian capacity. In crisis resolution the civilian component is as important as, if not more important than, military capabilities. Here the roles of the EU and the OSCE are crucial.

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