EU Military Security: Quo Vadis? | (dot)security
(dot)security | A space by JACOPO FRANCESCHINI
Since St. Malo declaration in 1999 the military integration among EU member countries continued to developed. The establishment of the European External Actions Service (EEAS) and the transformation of the ESDP into the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), through the Lisbon Treaty, marks the beginning of a further level of ambition for the development of the European Defense Policy. The Lisbon treaty gave legal personality to the EU and paved the road for a more coherent and extended vision on CSDP through the establishment of the EEAS. The latest development for the European Defense Policy are represented by the European Defense Fund and by the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO.
PESCO was established in 2017 with 17 initial projects and represents the last and deeper stage of integrated defense policy among EU Member States. At the end of 2020 PESCO reached 47 projects and become open to the participation of non-EU third countries. In the last years the EU ambitions in defense policy seem to be directed to reach a relation inter pares with NATO. Nevertheless, the EU-NATO relations are living a new revitalization period thanks to cooperation initiatives in the framework of illegal migration in the Mediterranean, Cybersecurity and countering hybrid warfare from Russia. In 2018, a new Joint Declaration of EU and NATO agreed on a further cooperation and in the same year 74 common actions were conducted together.
This short documentary helps to understand which are the origins of EU Defence project and highlights the internal and external convergences and divergences among EU members and NATO concerning the development of an EU army.