The EU's Comprehensive Approach to Security

A culture of co-ordination?

Very quickly after the launch of ESDP, the civilian and military structures became ´separate worlds’. Ever since, the EU and its Member States have been gradually trying to repair this, with as guidance the development of a ‘culture of coordination’ in its concept of Civil-Military Coordination (CMCO).

The envisaged division of labour in Maastricht between the Commission and the Council had the unintended consequence that the effective delivery of foreign and security policy is hampered by the fragmentation of authority, budgets and capacities. Moreover, the first decade of ESDP/CSDP has learned that within the Council civilian and military crisis management activities and capabilities are still separated, despite the creation of the CMPD and despite that these institutions are within the EEAS. The evolution of the comprehensive approach to security turns out to be one of slow adaptation and learning from mistakes from EU missions and overall foreign policy effectiveness.

On paper, the new position of the HR/VP and the EEAS have been created in the spirit of coherence and coordination. It is too soon to tell whether the potential of these new institutions will be fully put to use. Still some steps need to be taken by the EU in the areas of comprehensive planning and conduct of operations, effective financing of CSDP and strategic guidance and leadership. As the first few months of the EEAS also illustrate, many of these points for improvement will hinge on a culture change within the EU structures. The multi-dimensional (potential) conflicts close to Europe’s borders will not be patient while the EU engages in artificial institutional turf wars.