European common foreign and security policy

• Author: José Noronha Rodrigues
• Position: Department of Economic and Business Azores University - Portugal
• Pages: 69-88

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No.1 (2012), pp. 129-148

129

EUROPEAN COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY PO LICY

1

J. Noronha Rodrigues

Noronha Rodrigues, José

Department of Economic and Business

Azores University – Portugal

*Correspondence: Rua Mãe de Deus, s/n, 9501-801 – Ponta Delgada – Açores – Portugal

Email: noronha@uac.pt

Abstract

The twenty first century will be remembered in the history o f mankind as the century

of chan ge, constan t danger, “clash of civilisations”, collective insecurity, mistrust towards

“the other”, injustices caused by the Iraq wa r and by the terrorist attacks of September 11

th

2001, in the United States, March 11

th

2004, in Spain, and July 7

th

2005, in London,

respectively. We should not, however, neglect all the other terrorist attacks to the most

elementary human rights perpetrated every day arou nd the world. Indeed, the “insecurity”

epidemic proliferates aroun d the globe. Therefore, it is urgent for the European Union (EU)

to adopt and implement a reinforced Common Foreign and Secu rity Policy (CFSP).

Keywords: CFSP, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice, European Constitution .

Introduction

The twenty-first century will b e remembered in the history of mankind as the

century of change, constant danger, “clash of civilisations”, collective insecurity, mistrust

towards “the other”, injustice, Iraq war and main ly as the century of the tragic terrorist

attacks of September 11

th

2001, in the United States, March 11

th

2004, in Spain, and July 7

th

2005, in London. However, we should also no t forget the most elementary human rights’

violations perpetrated every day around the world. We should not continue to neglect these

matters and to persist in the constant incrimination of “the other”. We have an obligation to

analyse that which lies before us and formulate conjec tures about what is wrong in the

relationship b etween the western and eastern worlds and between the north and the south.

Indeed, we have a duty to understand that “the other” is “us.”

The world has chan ged. I f we grasp this fact, we ought to understand also that a

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is a necessity and that, therefore, it is

imperative for the European Union to stop being a “political pigmy” and begin speaking

with one voice in the world in bilateral, region al and international forums. The process of

European integration was initiated in 1951 with the sign ing of the Treaty of Paris, which

brought into place the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In addition to the

economic concerns that were central to its establishment, se curity considerations also played

a decisive role: “Considering that world peace may be safeguarded only by creative efforts

equal to the dangers which menace it; Convin ced that the contribution which an organized

1

This paper was presented at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)-Doctoral Programme in "Public

Law a nd Integration Processes: The European Union and Mercosur"-course on "Common Security and Foreign

Policy-European Defence and Security Policy", taught by Professor Dr. Rafael Garcia Pérez and Julio Jorge Urbina,

of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

EUROPEAN COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY

130

and vital Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful

relations;(...) Desirous of assisting through the expansion of their b asic production in raising

the standard of living and in furthering the works of peace; Resolved to substitute for historic

rivalries a fusion of their essentia l interests; to e stablish, by creating an economic

community, the foundation of a broad and independent community among peoples long

divided by bloody conflicts; and to lay the bases of institutions capable of giving direction to

their future common destiny; (...)”

1

The purpose of this paper is to trace the historical evolution of the Common

Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in the process of European integration (from the Hague

Summit to the Treaty of Nice) as well as underlining the merits and faults of the of EU

Constitutional Treaty (2004) with regard to such matters. We know from the outset that this

Constitutional Treaty will probably “never” come into place, at least in its present form,

given that France (29

th

May of 20 06) and the Netherlands (1

st

June of 2006) have refused to

ratify it.

I. Background of the CFSP

The “European Communities”

2

, in their first de cade of existence, prioritised

economic integration and, as a consequence, relegated political integration to a secondary

role. In reality, external political co-operation (EPC)

3

begins timidly in the 1970‘s, in great

part due to the efforts of French President George Po mpidou. Indeed, foreign policy,

common security and defence were born from several European summits: A) in 1969, at the

Hague European Summit

4

, President George Pompidou proposed the creation of an

institutional platform for foreign policy co-operation. He outlined “a programme of

European construction for the future, in which the political goals of the foundi ng members of

the Community were to be re-addressed (...) in accordance with the renowned triadic formula

completing, deepening and enlarging. After the Hague European Summit, Europe had, once

again, a political objective, in spite of continuing to pursue economic integra tion.(...)

[Europe] can stand only if it aims at a political union (... ) [whose] immediate objective is the

economical but whose final objective is (and must be) a political goal (...)”

5

; B ) One year

later, at the Luxembourg European Summit

6

, the B elgian Étienne D avignon, inspired by the

ideas of George Pompidou, outlined, in the so-called “Davignon Report”, the embryonic

institutional mechanisms of a not merely informal European intergovernmental co-oper ation.

Hence, he proposed “(a) at least once every six months, a meeting of Ministers of Foreig n

Affairs that could be substituted by a Conference of Heads of State or Government; (b) at

least four times a year, a political Committee comprising heads of the political departments

of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs to prepare the groundwork for ministerial decisions; (c) a

Committee of High Representatives to study the diverse questions that would arise; (d) [and

attributes to the] President of the Council of Ministers [the task of rep orting] once a year to

the European Parliament on the state o f Political Co-operation”

7

; C) At the P aris European

1

See Preamble of the Treaty of Paris, in “Tratado de la Unión Europea, Tratados constitutivos de las Comunidades

Europeas y otros actos básicos de Derecho Comunitário”, Madrid, ed. Tecnos, séptima edición, 1999, p. 261.

2

There were three Eu ropean Communities: E.C.S.C (Treaty of Paris-1 951); E.A.E.C (Treaty of Rome-1957) and

E.E.C (Treaty of Rome-1957).

3

Fernandes, Luís Lobo: A Cooperação Política Europeia, course text on the discipline of European Security,

Defence and Political Cooperation, VI edition of the Masters programme in European Studies, University of Minho,

Braga, 2000.

4

This Summit took place on the 1

st

and 2

nd

of December of 1969.

5

For an elaboration of this point, see

http://maltez.info/cosmopolis/anode1969/eurobalanca.htm.

6

See Bulletin EU, 1970-11, p.9-15. This Summit took place in October of 1970.

7

Bustamante, Rogelio Pérez, Colsa, Juan Manuel Uruburu: História da União Europeia, Coimbra, Coimbra,

Editora, 2004, p. 106.