Roadmap for Stronger Security and Defence of Europe: EU “Strategic Compass” Implementation Prospects

Abstract

The European Union continues to develop the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Adopted in March 2022, the EU’s “Strategic Compass for Security and Defense” in the next decade should become a roadmap for the development of the EU’s ambitions, stated in the 2003 and 2016 EU Strategies. The Strategic Compass offers a list of measures to strengthen the defense component in EU policy. They are concentrated in four main areas: crisis management, resilience, capacity building and partnerships. A significant innovation is the proposal to apply the qualified majority voting procedure on certain issues of foreign policy, security and defense policy. As part of the new EU Strategy, it is proposed to create a group of Rapid deployment forces and increase investment in the defense sector. The innovation will also be the holding of EU exercises and the EU Security and Defense Partnership Forum. Specific action plans for the announced initiatives should be developed by the end of 2022, and their implementation is scheduled for 2030. The Strategic Compass was perceived ambiguously — the key points of criticism are the inability of the Union to ensure its own strategic autonomy. In the context of the changed geopolitical situation in Europe, which coincided with the publication of the new Strategy, the EU countries continued to follow the lead of US policy. The emphasis in Compass on the complementarity of the foreign and security and defense policy of the EU in relation to the Alliance confirms that the countries of Europe will tend to rely on the usual institutions of NATO as opposed to the creation of new structures of the European Union. In addition, significant disagreements in the perception of threats by EU member states, as well as the general amorphousness of the Union’s foreign policy initiatives, remain a problem. It is likely that a significant breakthrough in the creation of effective institutions of European foreign policy, security and defense policy will not be achieved, but the acquisition of new powers by the European Commission will strengthen supranational control over the policies of EU member states in these areas.