Re Energising Europe S Security and Defence Policy

�� ISBN: 978-1-906538-05-7 �� ESDP_cover.indd 1 8/8/08 15:01:43 �� ESDP_cover.indd 2 8/8/08 15:01:43 �� This paper, like all publications of the European Council on Foreign Relations, represents not the collective views of the ECFR, but only the views of its author. ESDP_text.indd 1 8/8/08 15:40:25 Copyright of this publication is held by The European Council on Foreign Relations. You may not copy, reproduce, republish or circulate in any way the content from this publication except for your own personal and non-commercial use. Any other use requires the prior written permission of the European Council on Foreign Relations. © ECFR July 2008. Published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), 5th Floor Cambridge House, 100 Cambridge Grove, London W6 0LE [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-906538-05-7 ESDP_text.indd 2 8/8/08 15:40:25 �� ESDP_text.indd 3 8/8/08 15:40:25 ESDP_text.indd 4 8/8/08 15:40:25 �� Ten years after the launch of the EU’s defence effort at a Franco-British summit in St Malo, the European Security and Defence Policy badly needs a shot in the arm. Procrastination, weak coordination, and persistent absenteeism by some Member States have hobbled the Union’s ability to tackle the real threats to its citizens’ security, and to make a significant contribution to maintaining international peace. Europe’s leaders have agreed what is needed, in the 2003 European Security Strategy. They have acknowledged that security for Europeans today lies not in manning the ramparts or preparing to resist invasion, but in tackling crises abroad before they become breeding-grounds for terrorism, international trafficking, and unmanageable immigration flows. Yet EU members have done too little to modernise their militaries for this role. Nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War, most European armies are still geared towards all-out warfare on the inner-German border rather than keeping the peace in Chad, or supporting security and development in Afghanistan. European defence resources still pay for a total of 10,000 tanks, 2,500 combat aircraft, and nearly two million men and women in uniform -- more than half a million more than the US hyper-power. Yet 70% of Europe’s land forces are simply unable to operate outside national territory – and transport aircraft, communications, surveillance drones and helicopters (not to mention policemen and experts in civil administration) remain in chronically short supply. This failure to modernise means that much of the €200 billion that Europe spends on defence each year is simply wasted. As this report will argue, this situation demands a concerted effort to revitalise the European Union’s Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The EU’s individual Member States, even France and Britain, have lost and will never regain the ability to finance all the necessary new capabilities by themselves. Today, only cooperation amongst Europeans can eliminate the massive waste associated with the duplication of resources by Member States, and help transform Europe’s armed forces into modern militaries capable of contributing to global security. The Irish “No” vote to the Lisbon Treaty has opened up a period of new uncertainty about the prospects for the EU’s institutional reform. But European defence is essentially a matter of voluntary cooperation between Member States. � ESDP_text.indd 1 8/8/08 15:40:26 The political environment offers important encouraging elements: • France, one of the Union’s two strongest military powers alongside Britain, has designated “l’Europe de la Défense” as a key priority for its Presidency of the Union in the second half of 2008. • The United States is now calling for

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