Enlarged European Union and its Foreign Policy: Issues, Challenges, Perspectives David Král, Lukáš Pachta EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy Rytířská 31, CZ 110 00 Praha 1 Tel: +420-221 610 205 Fax: +420-221 610 204 E-mail: [email protected] Proof reading: Patrick Lyons Graphic design: (v) design, Vít Šmejkal Published by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, 2005 ISBN: 80-903237-7-4 We would like to acknowledge a generous support of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to this publication. ENLARGED EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS FOREIGN POLICY: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, PERSPECTIVES David Král, Lukáš Pachta Europeum Institute for European Policy, July 2005 2 Table of Contens TABLE OF CONTENS David Král ENLARGING EU FOREIGN POLICY THE ROLE OF NEW EU MEMBER STATES AND CANDIDATE COUNTRIES Executive Summary . 9 1. Introduction . 11 2. Setting the Stage – New Member States during Accession Negotiations, Convention and Intergovernmental Conference . 15 3. New Europe’s Atlanticism – An Ever Lasting Love? . 21 3.1 Security Considerations and Atlanticism . 22 3.2 Political Elites and Atlanticism . 24 3.3 Public Opinion and Atlanticism . 28 4. Geographical Priorities in the Activity of the New Member States . 33 4.1 Russia – Will the Balts Be Able to Prompt a Common EU Stance? . 35 4.2 Poland – Paving the Way for the Ukraine to Join the EU . 40 4.3 The Central European Countries – Pulling South Rather than East? . 43 5. Idealism versus Pragmatism in Foreign Policy – An Enduring Cleavage between Old and New Europe? . 49 6. Candidate Countries and CFSP . 57 7. Conclusion . 61 References . 65 3 Table of Contens Lukáš Pachta European Security and Defence Policy in the Light of the Transatlantic Relationship 1. Introduction . 71 2. Current Developments in the Security Culture of Europe and the United States . 79 2.1. Changing Understanding of Security and Security Policy after the Cold War . 79 2.2. Comparing the European Security Strategy and the US National Security Strategy . 80 3. TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS AFTER COLD WAR . 83 3.1. New Reality for an ‘Old Relationship’ . 83 3.2. Post 9/11 Transatlantic Relations . 85 3.3. Changing US Foreign and Security Policy . 86 4. European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP): Developments and Key Features . 89 4.1. Pre-ESDP Developments . 89 4.2. Birth and Development of ESDP . 91 4.3. There Is No ESDP without NATO… . 94 4.4. From Rapid Reaction Force to Battle Groups . 96 4.5. Main Stumbling Block: Defence Spending . 97 4.6. European Defence Industry . 98 5. Key Actors’ Perception Of ESDP . 101 5.1. Great Britain – From ‘Splendid Isolation’ to ‘Lead Nation’ Role . 101 5.2. France – Driving Force Hard to Control . 103 5.3. Germany – Civilian Power with Military Ambitions . 104 5.4. United States of America – Ambiguous Enthusiasm . 106 5.5. Remaining ‘Old’ Member States – Mismatch of Ambitions and Capabilities . 108 5.6. ‘New Europe’ – From Atlanticism to Europeanisation? . 109 5.7. Russia – Opportunistic and Unpredictable Partner . 109 6. Synthesis: Effects of ESDP on Transatlantic Relations . 111 6.1. ESDP Acceptable for All . 111 6.2. Where is the ESDP Heading? . 113 6.3. Future ESDP Developments and Transatlantic Relations . 114 7. Conclusions . 119 8. Executive Summary: European Security and Defence Policy in the Light of the Transatlantic Relationship . 129 9. Sources And Literature . 133 4 Table of Contens 5 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy David Král has been the chairman of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy since 2000 where he also serves as the director of EU policies programme. He also lectures at the University of Public Administration and International Relations. He graduated from the Law Faculty at Charles University. He is also a certified trainer in EU modules for public administration. During the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe and the Intergovernmental Conference 2003/2004 he was a member of advisory groups of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister. He is a member of the Board of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), gathering think-tanks and policy institutes from Central and Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States. His main areas of expertise in Europeum include the EU reform and Constitutional Treaty, EU enlargement, EU external relations, Common Foreign and Security Policy and Justice and Home Affairs. Lukáš Pachta studies at the Institute of International Studies at the Faculty of Social Science, Charles University. In 2003-2004 he studied at Sciences Po in Paris. In 2001 he became an editor of “Integrace” – a magazine on EU issues. From September 2001 until August 2003 he was working as the editor-in-chief of the Integrace magazine. His main areas of research encounter current political developments in the EU, the CFSP and ESDP and Transatlantic relations. 6 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy ENLARGING EU FOREIGN POLICY THE ROLE OF NEW EU MEMBER STATES * AND CANDIDATE COUNTRIES David Král June 2005 * Acknowledgement: is paper originated within the project funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. I would like to thank all those who contributed by their remarks and observations, namely to Robert Cottrell, for his invaluable comments. 7 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy 8 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ■ e accession of the states of Central and Eastern Europe to the EU in May 2004 was frequently perceived in the EU-15 as strengthening the Atlanticist element in Europe. e Atlanticism of the new member states is tempered by CEE governments who are trying to ensure that the EU and the US act together on the most important issues in international relations. ■ e importance attached to the assumed Atlanticist dimension of the last wave of enlargement has been overestimated. e new member states have not proven to be the “Trojan horses of the US in Europe” as some senior political figures predicted prior to accession in May 2004. On the contrary, the new member states were instrumental in repairing the transatlantic ris over Iraq. ■ Poland is likely to remain the most committed Atlanticist, along with the Baltic countries. e smaller Central European countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, are likely to voice their support for US policies more cautiously, giving greater regard to the opinion of the major EU players. ■ e degree to which the foreign policy of the new member states will remain associated with idealistic goals is difficult to predict. But it can be assumed the longer the CEE countries are members of the EU, the more pragmatic their foreign policy will become. ■ During the first year of membership, the new member states took some strong stances on foreign policy issues such as the Czech Republic on Cuba or in case of Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary on the issue of (not) opening the accession negotiations with Croatia. 9 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy ■ Poland and the Balts have had mixed results in their attempt to shape the EU’s relationship with Russia. eir push for a more comprehensive EU-Russia policy is mainly driven by domestic considerations. However, such an assessment needs to be balanced with the fact that with no real EU-Russia policy Poland and the Balts have acted similarly to France, Germany or Italy who also tend to pursue national rather than European interest in this respect. ■ Poland has played an important role in engaging the EU in Ukraine, especially during the electoral crisis in 2004. However, to what extent Poland remains committed to pushing the other member states to recog- nize Ukraine as a candidate country is not clear yet. ■ e diversity of the EU’s new neighbours implies that it is difficult for the new member states to agree on which third states should be prioritised in terms of CFSP and to set a common front. Such diversity makes it difficult for CEE member states to propose a convincing plan to its EU partners for dealing with these new neighbours. ■ Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are likely to have strong stakes at shaping the EU foreign policy in the future, particularly by getting the Black Sea region higher on the EU agenda. ■ e main dividing line across “New Europe” is likely to run between Poland and the Baltic states on one hand and the smaller Central European Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia) on the other, with the first group being more Atlanticist, more committed to push for a hard stance on Russia and recognition of the European aspirations of the countries in the EU near abroad. e second group is likely to keep a lower profile and “Europeanize” its foreign policy more quickly. 10 David Král – Enlarging EU Foreign Policy 1. INTRODUCTION A year has already passed since the ten countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the European Union. is period allows us to make the first reflections as to how the new member states have been behaving as full- fledged EU members. While a lot of attention has been paid to the integration of the newcomers into the core policies of the Union, especially economically, what is oen neglected is how the new members contributed to shaping the external relations of the enlarged EU. is paper will look at the impact of the new member states in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy.¹ It will make reflections on the track record of those states in the period since they joined the Union. How- ever, it will try to look beyond that and see what will be the likely path of their involvement in the domain of EU foreign policy in the future, with specific reference to the EUs “near neighbourhood” and the internal dynamics of the integration process.