Breaking Pillars - Towards a civil-military security approach for the European Union

Since the launch of the European Security and Defence Policy in 1999 the European

Union has all instruments at hand - civilian and military - for a comprehensive

approach to crisis management. In reality, it has been very difficult to combine these

instruments effectively and comprehensively. Recent decisions on establishing more

integrated civil-military structures and to work on civil-military capability

development only prove that a gap exists between theory and practice.

Why has the European Union failed to realise its comprehensive approach? What

reasons have caused military and civilian efforts to go different ways? How can the

gap be bridged and an integrated civil-military approach established?

This paper provides the answer to these questions. It argues for 'breaking pillars': not

only the communitarian Pillars and intergovernmental second Pillar, but also the

separation between military and civilian aspects of ESDP - now Common and

Security Defence Policy under the Lisbon Treaty. The authors provide twenty

recommendations towards a civil-military security approach for the European Union.

Margriet Drent is a Research Fellow at the Clingendael Security and Conflict

Programme, and teaches at the International Relations Department of the University of Groningen.

Dick Zandee is Head of the Planning and Policy Unit of the European Defence

Agency. This paper does not represent EDA views.