The EU as a Civil-Military Crisis Manager

Abstract

It is not entirely unproblematic to speak of the European Union as a crisis manager. One could ask what kind of security-political actor the EU really is. The usual answer to that question is that it is an actor sui generis. The Union is neither a state nor an international organization. It is less than a federation, but more than a confederation.1 It is considered to be the first real postmodern unit in international relations,2 or a complex multilevel system.' Its foreign affairs activities are captured by such different concepts as a civil power, a military power, a normative power, or a security provider model/ Broadly undisputed is its presence in international relations.5 Further, there is agreement over the Union not being a unified but an assembled and, therefore, a cumbersome actor.6This is especially true for the area of foreign, security, and defence policy, where the member-states jealously guard their prerogatives. Nevertheless the EU's security-political development can be seen in a more favourable light when compared with the situation before the introduction of the European security and defence policy (ESDP) in 1999. Since then it has taken a path that has established the Union as a civil-military actor in international crisis management. Due to risks and threats such as state failure, regional instability, organized crime, terrorist activities, and the proliferation of WMD, the EU has had to confront three realities: First, the states of the Union are dependent, more than ever, on internal and international cooperation to ensure their security. second, military means play a subordinate role in dealing with these risks in the medium and long-term. Third, it is becoming more important to connect the different instruments for conflict management in a cross-cutting manner.In this article, the question of how the Union functions as a crisis manager will be examined. In the foreground of this article will be not the activities in the crisis areas or the connected foreign policy interests and missions, but rather the internal management of EU security governance, i.e. the complexity of the internal decision-making process and the nature of civil-military coordination. If the EU is to become an effective civil-military crisis manager, the various actors, means, and capabilities for comprehensive crisis management need a significant degree of coordination within a coherent security governance structure. The central challenge is for the relevant actors to effectively put to use the necessary civil and military means in a coordinated manner, adjusted, throughout the entire process of conflict management, to the current situation.CIVIL-MILITARY CRISIS MANAGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONThe Union, and rightly so, sees itself as a special actor in international crisis management, due to its unique variety of diplomatic, trade-political, development-political, judiciary, police, and military instruments. It is broadly uncontested that the crises of the 2ist century have been marked by a high degree of complexity. Their constructive management, therefore, demands an appropriately differentiated political strategy, which also needs wide-ranging instruments for its realization. With the passage of the European security strategy (ESS) in 2003, the Union had an initial strategic document defining the main security-political challenges and threats. This document emphasizes the complex character of future crises and the need for a mix of instruments/ Moreover, the Union has appropriated civil and military means within the ESDP and has agreed on their further expansion by 2008 (civilian headline goal) and 2010 respectively (military headline goal).'' Finally, the Union already has within the first pillar instruments at its disposal such as the rapid reaction mechanism (RRM) or development aid and foreign trade policy, which can be used for acute and structural crisis management. The task still to be completed is interlinking the participating EU actors and the many instruments in such a manner that they serve to effectively deal with a crisis within the framework of a comprehensive strategy of crisis management. …