Does the development of ESDP erode the status of EU as a civilian power?

Abstract

Against the geopolitical backdrop of the 1990s like the end of the Cold War, member states decided to equip themselves with a new instrument - the CFSP and ESDP. This was developed by the Treaty of European Union. Up till then the EC, as presented by F.Duchene, could only be a civilian power because it lacked a military capability. However, a number of bilateral initiatives like the 1998 Franco-British Saint-Malo declaration and various EU decisions taken at the European Council meetings in Cologne, Helsinki, Feira and Nice, have given the EU an added dimension through the birth of ESDP - thus, creating the possibility that the EU could develop into a military power. Therefore, the question arises whether the ESDP is eroding the status of the EU as a civilian power. Many authors cling to the idea that the EU is still a civilian power, and they do so primarily by arguing that what counts most is that the EU is pursuing 'civilian ends'. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to this debate by first discussing the concepts of civilian, normative and military power, then analysing the nature and structure of ESDP, and finally attempting to draw some conclusions on whether ESDP has changed the fundamental civilian and normative capacity of the EU. My main conclusion tends to concur with that of Stelios Stavridis, who points out that it is thanks to the militarising of the Union that the EU might be able to act as a real civilian power, and move from a civilian power 'by default' to a civilian power 'by design'.