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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 10/05
An Action Plan for European Defence. Implementing the Security Strategy
Gerard Quille, Giovanni Gasparini, Roberto Menotti, Annalisa Monaco, Tomas Valasek and Alyson JK Bailes
May 2005
Abstract
Alyson Bailes captures the essence of the present context and challenge facing Europe in the early decades of the 21st Century with her opening observation that: "Europe has arrived at a point in history when its conception of security, and security ambitions, are possibly running ahead of the contemporary realities: while its military concepts and assets are lagging behind."
This report examines Europe's initial response through the EU and NATO in the specific post-European Security Strategy era and in the context of controversial doctrines such as the pre-emptive war against Iraq.
After surveying the international security context and debate on the use of force after Iraq, this report examines the institutional framework being developed by the EU and NATO to support collective European security ambitions.
The European Security Strategy (ESS) provides the reference document for understanding collective European ambitions and how they might move forward in security and defence over the coming years. The ESS situates the EU's likely use of force somewhere between a strict adherence to the UN Charter and a looser, "progressive" interpretation of customary international law.
