The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy is often abbreviated to CFSP. Since the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) on 1 November 1993, the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy has formed part of the Treaty framework.
Even before the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty, the EU Member States had been working together since 1970 on international political cooperation called European Political Cooperation (EPC), in which they endeavoured to harmonise their positions on important international issues. European Political Cooperation took the form of traditional intergovernmental cooperation. This cooperation was formalised in 1986 with the adoption of the Single European Act (SEA), but without changing the nature of the cooperation or the procedures surrounding it. The decisive development in this field was brought about by the Maastricht Treaty, which incorporated the goal of, and means for, a common foreign policy into the Treaty framework for the first time. European Political Cooperation was replaced, and provision for the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence, was included in the Treaty on European Union.
The provisions on the CFSP were revised by the Treaty of Amsterdam, which entered into force on 1 May 1999. Among other things, the role of CFSP High Representative was introduced, to improve the effectiveness and visibility of EU foreign policy.
ESDP
The Treaty of Amsterdam also brought in a common security and defence policy (European Security and Defence Policy, ESDP), which covers all issues regarding the security of the EU, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy. The common security and defence policy forms part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This common defence policy can lead to a common defence if the European Council so decides and the EU Member States adopt and ratify such a decision. The Treaty on European Union lays down that the ESDP shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States (neutral/non-aligned states) and shall be compatible with the policy established within the framework of NATO.
The Treaty of Nice established new permanent political and military structures within the Council to ensure political control and strategic crisis management, namely a Political and Security Committee and a Military Committee. The Political and Security Committee has since exercised political control and strategic direction of crisis management tasks, under the responsibility of the Council. A Military Staff composed of military experts seconded to the Council Secretariat by the Member States was also established. The Military Staff is under the military direction of the Military Committee, which it assists.
The EU has also laid down arrangements to give third countries (non-EU European NATO members and other EU accession candidates) and other potential partners the opportunity to participate in EU military crisis management.
Permanent arrangements for consultation and cooperation between the EU and NATO have also been made. The EU and NATO meet regularly to discuss certain specific issues so that, if occasion should arise, the EU can take action using NATO’s assets and capabilities (particularly planning capacity and command options).
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| The Common Foreign and Security Policy forms the second pillar of the European Union. The provisions on the CFSP can be found in Articles 11–28 of the Treaty on European Union. The objectives of the CFSP are defined in Article 11, and these objectives are to be achieved using some special means and procedures, which have to be adopted unanimously in the Council. |
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The ‘Petersberg tasks’ form a central part of the CFSP. These are crisis management tasks named after the place where the Ministerial Council of the Western European Union, or WEU, met in June 1992, and where the tasks were defined. The Petersberg tasks are humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. The European Council has stated that, in this respect, the EU must ‘have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO’. The Helsinki European Council in December 1999 established the general objectives for military capability. The objectives, which were to be realised by 2003, were that the EU should be able to deploy, within 60 days and for at least one year, up to 60 000 persons capable of performing the full range of Petersberg tasks. This did not imply the creation of a European army, however, because decisions on recruitment and deployment of national troops are taken at Member State level. A Council meeting of EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs in December 2003 declared that the Helsinki objectives had been achieved, although it was emphasised that there were certain shortcomings in relation to deployment capability and speed. The focus of the new objectives adopted by the June 2004 European Council, ‘Headline Goal 2010’, is therefore on quality and specific capacity requirements rather than quantity. |
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Denmark has an opt-out with regard to participation in the preparation and implementation of decisions and actions within the EU that have defence implications. This opt-out means that Denmark does not participate in EU-led military crisis management operations or in the adoption of acts on specific operations. The opt-out does not preclude Denmark’s participation in general discussions on strengthening European crisis management, however, and so Denmark is represented in the bodies of the EU that are involved with the common security and defence policy. Denmark also participates in the civilian part of this policy, which covers civilian crisis management operations, such as EU police missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. |
| WEU is an acronym for the Western European Union, which is an organisation for the purposes of cooperation on defence. The Marseilles Declaration of 17 November 2000 reduced most of the WEU’s defence competence, and therefore the Treaty of Nice removes all references to WEU cooperation with the EU from the Treaty framework. |
Sidst opdateret: 23-07-2008 - ANSJ