A Stronger Military Role for the EU in the Balkans?
Unraveling the European Security and Defense Policy Conundrum, ed. J. Krause, A. Wenger, L. Watanabe. Studies in Contemporary History and Security Policy, Vol.11, Bern, 2003.
Language of the original publication: English
A Stronger Military Role for the EU in the Balkans?
After reviewing the wide array of non-military instruments the EU is displaying in the Balkans, the emphasis is put on the fact that the lack of credible military component threatens to weaken (or even undermine) all other aspects. It is stressed that current – i.e. as of beginning 2002 – “European presence in the Balkans – 80 per cent of the approximately 50 000 NATO troops on the ground are European – reveals that a stronger European military role in the Balkans is, in a sense, not a question for the future, but rather a fact of the present. Nevertheless, the absence of the EU flag over this European presence demonstrates that most of the factors impeding a stronger military role for the EU in the Balkan region are based on political rather than capability considerations”. ESDP is above all the next logical step in the process of European integration: “the shift from a mere economic power to a political one, the progressive building of its strategic dimension, and thereby the emergence of Europe as a global actor on its own right”. At the same time, it is an additional tool – albeit an important and necessary one – in a broad and unrivalled range of economic, political and diplomatic capabilities. Without credible EU military role in the Balkans, the coherence and balance of the entire EU involvement is jeopardized. Regarding the Balkans theatre, previous European attempts and current challenges are overviewed, the emphasis being on the mostly internal factors (lack of sufficient political will) constraining the effective functioning of ESDP. Examples include: duplications among Member States (capabilities and industries); differing visions of the transatlantic relationship (division of labour, desired degree of emancipation); divergent views on the very nature of the integration (economic, political, strategic actor); inter-pillar rivalry and redundancy within the EU. As for capability deficiencies, it is remarked that “in spite of all reproaches from Washington pointing to the so-called capability gap, European efforts to palliate these deficiencies often meet hostile US reaction if they do not follow the ‘Buy American’ order or risk allowing real strategic autonomy for the EU (as was the case with the A400M and the Galileo navigation system, for example”.
(Hajnalka Vincze, A Stronger Military Role for the EU in the Balkans?, Unraveling the European Security and Defense Policy Conundrum, ed. J. Krause, A. Wenger, L. Watanabe. Studies in Contemporary History and Security Policy, Vol.11, Bern, 2003., 28,077 characters)
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