Common Security and Defence Policy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:36, 26 April 2005

Revision as of 20:06, 26 April 2005

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The '''European Security and Defence Policy''' or '''ESDP''' is considered a major element of the [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]] [[three pillars of the European Union|pillar]] of the [[European Union]] (EU). The ESDP was initiated by provisions of the [[Amsterdam Treaty]] which stipulated the progressive framing of a common security and defence policy that could deal with humanitarian and rescue, [[peacekeeping]], peacemaking and combat forces [[crisis management]] tasks, called the [[Petersberg tasks]]. When the [[Cologne European Council]] in June [[1999]] appointed [[Javier Solana]] as the High representative of the CFSP they also declared that "the EU must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO

==European Security==

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==European defence==

The total spent by the 25 EU nations on defence is approximately [[€]]160 billion. On [[July 12]] [[2004]] details of an EU defence agency were finalised. The 80 person agency will be headed by Javier Solana. It will provide political guidance to ensure greater efficiency in EU members military spending, liasing closely with [[NATO]] in the process..

==Petersberg tasks==

The Petersberg tasks are the [[military]] tasks of a [[humanitarian]], [[peacekeeping]] and peacemaking nature that the [[European Union]] (EU) and the [[Western European Union]] (WEU) are empowered to do. They were defined in June [[1992]] at the Hotel Petersburg near [[Bonn]] in [[Germany]] at a meeting of the Council of the WEU, where the member states agreed to deploy their troops and resources from across the whole spectrum of the military under the authority of the WEU. As a part of the partial merger of the WEU with the [[European Union]] these tasks now form a part of the [[European Security and Defence Policy]], and are central to strengthening the [[European Union]]'s second pillar, the [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]].

== Elements of the ESDP ==