Some Theoretical-Practical Aspects of European Security and Defence Policy
Az Európai Unió biztonság- és védelempolitikai dokumentumai, vol.2, ed. Póti-Tálas-Vincze, SVKK-Chartapress, 2005, Budapest
Language of the original publication: Hungarian
The concept of strategic, political, operational and industrial-technological autonomy lies at the heart of the connection linking together the substantial-existential and practical-implementational aspects of ESDP.
The first part of the paper takes a closer look at the “Existential dilemmas of the European security model”. It examines issues such as “European?” (particular Europeanness, common Europeanity, autonomous Europeanness); “Security?” (what to manage, which instruments to use to manage, how to manage); and “Model?” (the Union as a security architecture, the Union as a security precedent). The question about the existence or non-existence of the European security model is indeed “a fake interrogation, since in reality it is about the existence or non-existence of political will ready to stand and act for it.” In fact, “nothing can justify that Europeans who have become an economic giant thanks to their integration resign themselves to remain forever in their role of political dwarf. That they do not use the effective tools they have at their disposal in order to shape global processes in line with their own conceptions. And that the European security and defence policy, launched to give more credit to the EU’s external actions, to discredit itself by not daring to assume its own independence.”
The issue of a particular European character “raises in practice two groups of unsolved dilemmas: the uncertainties as regards the integration, and those linked to the transatlantic relations. On the one side, the question is to know what level of sovereignty sharing (the essence of their integration) EU member states are willing to accept in order to present their common views in the most efficient way. On the other side, the question remains whether member states would be ready to stand for their common position, even if this makes unconditional alignment on the United States impossible on a given international issue.” As for the latter controversy, it is worth reminding some obvious facts. “Taking into account past and present transatlantic balance of forces, it goes without saying that the European security model has to be defined vis-à-vis the United States. This does not automatically mean in opposition to them. First, the European approach has absolutely no need of an “adversary” to justify its own legitimacy and pertinence. Second, given the frequent coincidence of interests and values, Europe and the US are, in a lot of cases, natural partners: one of the most important common efforts of Europeans aims to secure the cooperation of their overseas ally on particular international issues. Misunderstandings, therefore, simply stem from the fact that for those in favour of the prolongation of the current subordinate-dependent status, any step towards European independence is considered as a hostile act. It is seen as anti-Americanism, just like the very factual assertion that on international issues there are and there will be situations in which Europeans are in agreement with the United States, and there are and will be others in which they are not.”
“There is another, long-term consideration, relating to the shaping of future world order, to be added to this. It is commonly known that American strategic planning counts, from the very beginning of the 90’s, with the eventual emergence of a so-called peer competitor. Lately, chaos or vacuum theories (threatening with the nightmare image of global anarchy, should the US undergo a sudden decline) have become widespread. Furthermore, the current concentration of power carries in itself undeniable risks even in the short term. As French president Chirac put it: ‘any community with only one dominant power is always a dangerous one and provokes reactions’. In other words: the absence of real alternative and the lack of genuine pluralism inevitably generate a feeling of exclusion and lead, by default, to asymmetrical end
(Hajnalka Vincze, Some Theoretical-Practical Aspects of European Security and Defence Policy, Az Európai Unió biztonság- és védelempolitikai dokumentumai, vol.2, ed. Póti-Tálas-Vincze, SVKK-Chartapress, 2005, Budapest, 77,016 characters)