Publications
Tien jaar Europees Veiligheids- en Defensiebeleid: problemen en potentie, Margriet Drent
Margriet Drent takes stock of the achievements, shortcomings and potential of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) ten years after its official founding. The speed with which ESDP has developed since 1999 is impressive and in a short period of time the EU has been able to deploy military operations and civilian missions to trouble spots on three continents. At the end of 2009, twenty-three missions have been deployed, seventeen of which of a predominantly civilian nature. Although a unified European vision for these missions is lacking, the choice of missions has served another strategic purpose: to solidify ESDP's independent position vis-a-vis NATO and to underline ESDP's operational viability. Overall, within the limitations of mandate, robustness and time-scale, these missions can be considered a success. It is the EU's strength that it is able to contribute both military and civilian tools to crisis management. But this strength needs to be developed further and one of the main problems hampering ESDP's effectiveness is coordination of its considerable civilian potential with the newly developed military instrument of ESDP. Another main problem lies in the lack of military and civilian capacities for crisis management. The goal of establishing a European Rapid Reaction Force of 60,000 troops proved too ambitious and attention shifted to the formation of small and rapidly deployable battle groups. Recruiting experienced civilian personnel for ESDP missions also proved to be one of the bottlenecks. On balance, the perspectives of EU member states on ESDP seem to be converging towards a -sometimes awkward- consensus on a civilian-military security role for the EU. However, it is paramount that these same member states soon agree on a strategic purpose for ESDP and also deliver on their promise to back it up with credible means.