The European Security Strategy adopted in December 2003 by the European Union defines a normative setting and leading principles. As such, it is not a real strategic concept and even less of a doctrine. A sort of general philosophy of the action in the world, the « document of Solana » refers back to readings with strongly divergent ideological interpretations of security, demonstrating that it remains a text rich in ambiguity and voluntary imprecision.
Summary AFRI-2005   lire suite

The idea of a European Defense Agency (EDA) mainly developed outside of the European Communities, in specific defense or armament structures. It was created in the frame of the European Union, in July 2005. It works in the fields of development of defense capabilities, promotion and enhancement of European armament cooperation, enhancement of the effectiveness of European defense R&T, strengthening of the European defense technological and industrial base and creation of an internationally (...)  lire suite

From the beginnings of the European integration process, the reinforcement of the part of Europe as a world actor has been a recurring expression : the dispositions of the Constitution Treaty on CFSP thus mark a constitutional cornerstone. It is then relevant to proceed to a debate in order to determine whether this text is a constitutional leap, and to what extent, or whether it is another version of a still more refined intergovernmentalism, that would limit the European Union’s capacity (...)  lire suite

This article assesses the current state of competition between the dollar and the euro. It presents the issues related to the « strong euro » and the international role of the euro. Economics is of course mobilized to explain the exchange rate of the euro and its process of international diffusion. Yet, economic theory does not suffice to explain what has happened between 1999 and 2003. The behaviours of the Fed and the ECB should also be studied, as well as the political credibility of the (...)  lire suite

The outcomes of the Convention on the future of Europe are not meeting its initial ambition to put foreign, security and defence policy among the priorities for the European Union’s constitutional design. The general philosophy of the provisions regarding CFSP and CESDP remains similar to the previous Treaties. CFSP will become more integrated, on an intergovernmental rather than supranational model and under the large states’ control. The major innovation is the creation of the position of (...)  lire suite

On April 29th of this year, a group of European countries - Belgium, France, Germany and Luxemburg - gathered in Brussels to purpose some initiatives aiming at the enhancement of the European security tooling. Surfing on the reinforced cooperation principle and sustaining a better reactivity of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), this initiative has had to suffer pressures coming from the United-States, Great-Britain and the so-called non-aligned European countries. They (...)  lire suite

The protocol can be defined as the symbolic order which expresses the political order. It is first a hierarchy which classifies actors and enforces legitimate behaviours. Then, the protocol is a show inviting the public to make allegiance to these actors in function of their rank. From this perspective, the European Union, commonly described as a multi-level and evolving system with no precise hierarchy, is a particularly interesting case : the non-formalisation, and the simplicity of the (...)  lire suite

This paper examines how the EU deals with social issues connected to enlargement. It emphasises its exclusively juridical perception and the absence of public and political debate, and how this very much restrained the possibility of re-negotiating a new social arrangement within the EU on the occasion of eastern European countries’ adhesion. Such a silence on the social dimension of European enlargement finds an explanation principally in the manner with which European social institutions (...)  lire suite

Two years after having assessed in Helsinki their global objective of approaching the autonomous management of crises within the particular framework of the Petersberg missions, the Fifteen are getting closer to the moment of truth. They have, with a fast pace, inventoried the necessary capacities, the available means and the projects which should be developed in order to fill the deficiencies of the apparatus their forces have built little by little ; they have been able to declare (...)  lire suite

After several unsuccessful attempts, the notion of official document, a kind of « European White Paper » on security and defense comes back at the front of the stage. The need to have a conceptual « dictionary », to unite European identity bases (objectives of forces and capacity ; Petersberg missions, solemn declarations) and to present pedagogically the acquirements of the Union concerning European politics of security and defense, became imperative. Despite the semantic, methodological and (...)  lire suite