Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 11/5/2007
EU security and defence — Core documents 2006 — Volume VII
March 2007
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract
2006, another year in which ESDP has gone from strength to strength. Unfortunately, it is true that its dynamism is also a symptom of the continuing deterioration in the international security situation since 2003. Iraq’s slide into civil war, Iran’s intransigence over the nuclear issue, the war in Lebanon, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock, the resurfacing of the energy issue on the international security agenda, the impasse over Darfur, the violent disintegration of Somalia, tensions between Georgia and Russia – all these events have increased instability in the EU’s neighbourhood, both to the east and to the south. At the same time, ESDP’s rude good health also shows that the Member States, despite their major differences over the reform, purpose and budget of the European Union, now share a common vision of their strategic responsibility and of the overriding necessity for the Union to influence the political evolution of the world.
