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A Guide to the European Union
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was established as the second pillar of the European Union in the 1992 Treaty on European Union signed at Maastricht. A number of important changes were introduced in the 1999 Amsterdam Treaty.
The Amsterdam Treaty spells out five fundamental objectives of the CFSP:
- to safeguard the common values, fundamental interests, independence and integrity of the EU in conformity with the principle of the United Nations Charter;
- to strengthen the security of the EU in all ways;
- to preserve peace and strengthen international security, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter;
- to promote international co-operation; and
- to develop and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
There are a number of different actors involved in the elaboration and implementation of the CFSP:
- the European Council - Heads of State and Government and the European Commission's President meet at least once every half year Presidency to set priorities and give broad guidelines for EU policies, including the CFSP.
- the Council of Ministers - EU Foreign Ministers and the External Relations Commissioner meet as the General Affairs Council at least once a month to decide on external relations issues, including the CFSP. This consultation on external policy leads to joint actions and common positions, whose political implementation is mainly incumbent on the Presidency.
- the Presidency of the European Council plays a vital part in the organisation of the work of the institution, notably as the driving force in the legislative and political decision-making process. The Presidency passes to a new Member State every 6 months.
- the European Parliament is informed and consulted on the broad orientation and choices in this area.
The Treaty of Amsterdam also introduced the new role of High Representative for the CFSP who "shall assist the [European] Council in matters coming within the scope of the CFSP". Mr Javier Solana was appointed as first High Representative and took office in October 1999. He participates actively in all of the above European meetings.
Mechanisms for regular political dialogue with a whole range of third countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have been set up, usually with meetings at ministerial level. The Council and the Commission are jointly responsible for ensuring the consistency of the EU's external activities as a whole, in the context of its external relations, security, economic and development policies.
European Security and Defence Policy
The Cologne European Council meeting in June 1999 placed crisis management tasks at the core of the strengthening of the ESDP; these are also known as the Petersberg tasks, and include humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and combat-force tasks in crisis management. Each successive European Council has given greater substance to this desire to give the EU a capacity for autonomous action in international crisis management. The goal for the EU is to be able to deploy within sixty days a force of up to 60,000 persons capable of carrying out the full range of Petersberg tasks. The achievement of this goal does not involve the establishment of a European army. The commitment and deployment of national troops will be based on sovereign decisions taken by Member States.
The Treaty of Nice, which enters into force on 1 February 2003, provides the EU with a common European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) that covers all matters relating to its security. The ESDP does not, however, affect the specific nature of the security and defence policies of Member States, and is compatible with the policy conducted in the framework of NATO.
Further information on the CFSP and the ESDP can be found at http://ue.eu.int/pesc/default.asp?lang=en.
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