Militarisation
of the European Union (2)
Previous Treaties and Agreements – What they say about military
issues
Contents:
•
Introduction
•
What
the Treaties say about military matters
•
Proposed
Amendments to Draft Constitutional Treaty
•
Other Papers in this Series
Introduction
The
European Union is based on a number of Treaties. They set out what
the Member States have agreed about the way they work together, the
issues which are dealt with by the Union and those which are dealt
with at national level. They also set out the institutions of the
European Union and what they can and cannot do. The first such Treaty
was concluded in Rome in 1957 and is referred to as the Treaty of
Rome. It was amended over the years and there is now a Consolidated
Treaty Establishing the European Union which contains the original
Treaty of Rome and its amendments. Subsequently, a number of other
Treaties (notably the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice)
have been concluded. Return
to top of page
What
the Treaties say about military matters
| Consolidated
Treaty Establishing the European Union |
This
has only one reference to the term military. This reference
simply allows Member States not to subject matters relating
specifically to military purposes to competition across the
European Community. In other words, it keeps all military matters
completely out of the remit of the European Community. |
| Treaty
of Maastricht |
The
Treaty of Maastricht introduces the concept of a Common Foreign
and Security Policy (CFSP). In that section, in Article 27b,
it still excludes all matters having military or defence implications
from this policy. |
| Treaty
of Nice |
Repeats
that exclusion of matters which have military and defence implications. |
| Treaty
of Amsterdam |
Refers
extensively to the relations between the EU, the Western European
Union (WEU) and NATO in the framework of the development of
a European Security and Defence Policy within the Atlantic Alliance.
However, it still allows Member States not to open their military
to competition and not to disclose information they consider
essential for their security.
In other words, there is still no clear indication that the
European Union wishes to pursue a joint military line.
|
The
decision to develop the EU military capability was taken by the
Council of the EU (that is, the Heads of State and/or Government
of the Member States) in January 2001 when it set up:
•
The Military Committee of the European Union (this is made up of
the Member States’ Chiefs of Defence).
• The Military Staff of the European Union (this is made up
of military personnel seconded by Member States to the Secretary
General of the Council of the European Union).
The
Petersberg Declaration
In
1992, the Members of the Western European Union (WEU) agreed a Declaration
at Petersberg in Bonn (referred to as the Petersberg Declaration)
which set out the view of the Members of the WEU of their role in
terms of security and defence in Europe.
The
declaration said, in part:
In accordance with the decision contained in the Declaration of
the Member States of WEU at Maastricht on 10 December 1991 to develop
WEU as the defence component of the European Union and as the means
to strengthen the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance, WEU
Member States have been examining and defining appropriate missions,
structures and means covering, in particular, a WEU planning cell
and military units answerable to WEU, in order to strengthen WEU's
operational role.
The Declaration also includes details of the kinds of tasks that
the WEU will undertake (referred to as the Petersberg Tasks) which
include among others:
Apart
from contributing to the common defence in accordance with Article
5 of the Washington Treaty and Article V of the modified Brussels
Treaty respectively, military units of WEU Member States, acting
under the authority of WEU, could be employed for:
• humanitarian and rescue tasks;
• peacekeeping tasks;
• tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking.
For the full text of the declaration see: http://www.cip.fuhem.es/ueh/documentos/ueo/92-petersberg.htm
The
implications of the Petersberg Declaration for the issue of the
militarisation of the European Union are:
1.
The WEU was disbanded through full integration into the EU in November
2000. As a result the priorities of the WEU (as set out in part
above) have become part of the priorities of the EU.
2. The WEU had a purely military outlook; this was despite the fact
that it had taken on as its tasks humanitarian and rescue missions,
peacekeeping, crisis management and peacebuilding.
3. The fact that the EU has now agreed to set up its own military
research and capability agency, that it has set up its own military
committee and staff and that this is to be embedded into the Constitutional
Treaty reflects these developments.
4. Nowhere in either the Petersberg Declaration or in Article I-40
of the Draft Constitutional Treaty is there any reference to civilian
capacity building, civilian intervention or the value of non-military
and/or non-violent approaches to any of the humanitarian, rescue,
peacekeeping, crisis management or peacemaking tasks.
During
the period of the Intergovernmental Conference in 2003, when the
Draft Constitutional Treaty was being discussed by Member States
Governments and by the Council of Ministers, QCEA together with
the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) lobbied for the
setting up of a European Peacebuilding Agency in parallel with the
defence agency proposed in Article I-40 of the Draft Constitutional
Treaty. Since then, and despite the fact that the Draft Constitutional
Treaty as a whole was not agreed by the Intergovernmental Conference
in December 2003, the establishment of the European Armaments, Research
and Military Capabilities Agency was agreed and implementation work
has begun.
The
original proposal made by EPLO and QCEA is reproduced here for completeness.
However, there is now no further scope for lobbying for the introduction
of this text into the Draft Constitution Treaty. Further work on
the issue is being done and this is reflected in more detail in
other papers in this series.
Return
to top of page
Proposed
Amendments to Draft Constitutional Treaty
Part
I Article 40: Paragraph 3
Member
States shall make civilian and military capabilities available to
the Union for the implementation of the common security and defence
policy, to contribute to the objectives defined by the Council of
Ministers. Those Member States which together establish multinational
forces may also make them available to the common security and defence
policy.
Member
States shall undertake to improve their military capabilities. A
European Armaments, Research and Military Capabilities Agency shall
be established to identify operational requirements, to promote
measures to satisfy those requirements, to contribute to identifying
and, where necessary, implementing appropriate
measures needed to strengthen the industrial and technological base
of the defence sector, to participate in defining a European capabilities
and armaments policy consistent with the strengthening of
the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, and to assist the
Council of Ministers in evaluating the improvement of military capabilities.
The Agency shall be fully accountable and transparent to
Member States and their parliaments. The Agency shall publish an
annual report on its activities to be presented to national and
European parliaments.
Member
States shall undertake progressively to improve their civilian capabilities.
A European Peacebuilding Research and Civilian Capabilities Agency
shall be established to identify operational requirements and capability
goals, to promote measures to satisfy those requirements, to set
common standards for the training and recruitment of personnel for
civilian operations, to monitor, review and promote best-practice
in the implementation of EU missions and programmes, to promote
coherent co-operation between the EU, UN and OSCE, and to support
research into the further development of conflict prevention and
civilian crisis management instruments and capabilities.
Part
III New Article 213
1.
The European Peacebuilding, Research and Civilian Capabilities Agency,
subject to the authority of the Council of Ministers, in close cooperation
with the European Commission, shall have as its task to:
(a)
contribute to identifying Member States’ civilian capability
objectives and operational requirements and evaluating observance
of the capability commitments given by the Member States;
(b)
promote measures to satisfy common operational requirements, including
the establishment of a mechanism to co-ordinate the recruitment
of civilian personnel and the agreement of common standards for
recruitment, training and practice;
(c)
contribute to the monitoring, review and evaluation of standards
in the conduct of EU missions and EC programmes to support the EU’s
lessons learning processes and promote best-practice;
(d)
support and promote co-operation with non-governmental organisations
engaged in complementary crisis-management and conflict prevention
activities;
(e)
promote coherent co-operation with the UN and OSCE and other regional
organisations in the conduct of civilian crisis management activities;
(f)
support research into the further development of civilian crisis
management and conflict prevention instruments and capabilities.
2.
The Agency shall be open to all Member States wishing to be part
of it. The Council of Ministers, acting by qualified majority, shall
adopt a European decision defining the Agency’s statute, seat
and operational rules. The Agency shall be fully accountable and
transparent to Member States and their parliaments. The Agency shall
publish an annual report on its activities to be presented to national
and European parliaments.
Return
to top of page
Other
Papers in this Series
(1)
The Context of the Convention on the Future of Europe HTML
PDF (163kb)
(3)
The Role of and Connection between the EU, the WEU and NATO
HTML PDF
(176kb)
(4)
What is in the Draft Constitutional Treaty and what are the implications
HTML PDF
(223kb)
(5)
Future Action: European Civilian Capabilities HTML
PDF (275kb)
(6)
Finding
Further Information – Keeping (us) Informed
HTML
PDF (116kb)
Instructions
on downloading PDFs:
To read PDFs you need Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
To
download the PDFs right click the link select "Save
Target As" and save it on your computer.
Please
note that these are large files and depending on your connection
speed may take some time to download
Return
to top of page
Return
to the Militarisation of the European Union Briefing Papers Main
Page |
