A military constitution for the European Union?
Or: The European Union too is on a course towards war
Tobias Pfluger of the
German-based Informationsstelle Militarisierung analyses the
draft EU constitution and proposes a European campaign to oppose
it.
Introduction
After a long time the so-called European Convention produced
a draft for a EU Constitution, which consists of 260 pages,
divided into four chapters. Added to the draft constitution
are several appendices of additional agreements, which will
also be part of the constitution. The EU Constitution can be
read or downloaded at http://www.european-convention.eu.int.
On the significance of
military policy within the EU draft constitution
The so-called "Common Foreign and Security Policy"
(CFSP) and the "European Security and Defence Policy"
(ESDP) take up a lot of space and are central to the draft.
The regulations regarding the military policy are very concrete
and go into a lot of detail. The EU Commission itself comments:
"Finally, by virtue
of the fact that it replaces all the provisions of the current
Treaties and, in particular, rewrites the provisions on external
action and the area of freedom, security and justice, while
adopting the Treaty provisions on policies wholesale, the draft
Constitution has inevitably become a lengthy and fairly detailed
document." (Opinion of the Commission, pursuant to Article
48 of the Treaty on European Union, on the Conference of representatives
of the Member States' governments convened to revise the Treaties,
17/09/03) The European Commission describes the significance
of foreign and security policy as follows: "The Convention
examined closely the provisions on the Union's external action
and the area of freedom, security and justice. It produced draft
articles completely rewriting the originals. As far as the other
policies are concerned, the Convention confined itself to reproducing
the provisions currently featuring in the EC Treaty, with only
a few alterations." In the same document, the content of
the EU draft constitution is described as follows: "...
it revamps the provisions concerning the common foreign and
security policy; it develops the common security and defence
policy and enables those Member States wishing to do so to enhance
their capacity for action within a common framework."
EU integration through
common military policy?
The draft constitution explicitly states: "The Union shall
have competence to define and implement a common foreign and
security policy, including the progressive framing of a common
defence policy." (Article I-11, paragraph 4; it is similar
in article I-15, paragraph 1.) Article I-40 paragraph 2 clarifies
the steps that need to be taken: "The common security and
defence policy shall include the progressive framing of a common
Union defence policy. This will lead to a common defence, when
the European Council, acting unanimously, so decides."
There will be such a thing as a duty of loyalty within the European
Union. Article I-15, paragraph 2 reads: "Member States
shall actively and unreservedly support the Union's common foreign
and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity
and shall comply with the acts adopted by the Union in this
area. They shall refrain from action contrary to the Union's
interests or likely to impair its effectiveness." As long
as there is no decision of the European Council on "security
policy", individual member states of the EU who, regarding
their military, "have made more binding commitments to
one another" may established a "structured cooperation
within the Union framework", according to Article I-40,
paragraph 6 (more below under Council of Ministers decides on
its own). If this constitution is passed, then member states
won't have the power to block the developing common military
policy. If this draft EU constitution becomes reality the common
military policy of the European Union will play a - if not the
- central role in the process of the integration of the enlarged
EU of 25 member states. In particular, the regulations on competences
(especially Article I-11) or on general obligations (Article
I-15) highlight this aspect. Additionally, the common military
policy is one - if not the - central (new) element of this draft
of a new EU constitution.
Commitment to armament
in the constitution
Regarding peace or military policy, the draft constitution includes
dramatic new regulations. There is an explicit commitment to
armament in the constitution: "Member States shall undertake
progressively to improve their military capabilities."
(Article I-40, paragraph 3) This means engraved in the future
constitution is a commitment to regular increases in armaments!
A
"European Armaments, Research and Military Capabilities
Agency" will be set up "to identify operational requirements,
to promote measures to satisfy those requirements, to contribute
to identifying and, where appropriate, implementing any measure
needed to strengthen the industrial and technological base of
the defence sector, to participate in defining a European capabilities
and armaments policy, and to assist the Council of Ministers
in evaluating the improvement of military capabilities."
(Article I-40, paragraph 3). Regarding the "improvement
of military capabilities" and the "evaluating the
improvement of military capabilities" the constitution
explicitly defines commitments!
EU troops all over the
world? Combat operations (including abroad) in the constitution
The EU member states provide military contingents for the
EU military policy: "Member States shall make civilian
and military capabilities available to the Union for the implementation
of the common security and defence policy, to contribute to
the objectives defined by the Council of Ministers. Those Member
States which together establish multinational forces may also
make them available to the common security and defence policy."
(Article I-40, paragraph 3). It is again unique that readiness
for military interventions world-wide gets the status of a constitutional
duty. EU troops will be used as "combat forces in crisis
management, including peacemaking and post-conflict stabilisation."
(Article III-210). It goes on, "[a]ll these tasks may contribute
to the fight against terrorism, including by supporting third
countries in combating terrorism in their territories."
(Article III-210). This is an extremely broad mandate for potential
EU military operations. It even allows for the EU to intervene
in a civil war on the side of one or other faction, and to influence
the outcome of the war militarily, justified by the "fight
against terrorism". Any limitations for such extra-territorial
EU military operations remain undefined.
Codification of the concept
of core Europe
Article 40 paragraph 6 of the draft constitution says: "Those
Member States whose military capabilities fulfil higher criteria
and which have made more binding commitments to one another
in this area with a view to the most demanding missions shall
establish structured cooperation within the Union framework."
This means that individual member states, which "have made
more binding commitments to one another", can create permanent
common military structures. Article I-40 paragraph 7 defines
more concretely what Jacques Chirac has described once as an
advance team such as at the tour de France: "Until such
time as the European Council has acted in accordance with paragraph
2 of this Article, closer cooperation shall be established,
in the
Union framework, as regards mutual defence." This translates
into the area of the military what German Foreign Minister Joshka
Fischer described in a speech at the Humboldt University on
12 May 2000 in Berlin (From Confederacy to Federation - Thoughts
on the finality of European integration). There he talked about
an "avant-garde" Europe, about a "centre of gravity"
within the EU, but the older term of a "core Europe"
coined by Wolfgang Schauble and Karl Lamers is more to the point.
It remains open how this closer military cooperation within
the union framework could be slowed down or prevented by other
EU member states.
This so called "structured cooperation" in the area
of military policy is something like an exclusive club within
the EU: Article III-213 paragraph 3 reads: "When the Council
of Ministers adopts European decisions relating to matters covered
by structured cooperation, only the members of the Council of
Ministers that represent the Member States taking part in structured
cooperation shall participate in the deliberations and the adoption
of such decisions. The Union Minister for Foreign Affairs shall
attend the deliberations. The representatives of the other Member
States shall be duly and regularly informed by the Union Minister
for Foreign Affairs of developments in structured cooperation."
It is absolutely unclear how other member states of the EU could
slow down or block this closer military cooperation. For those
EU countries that are officially still neutral - Finland, Ireland,
Austria, and Sweden - there are more problems. The EUconstitution
includes several explicit regulations for cooperation with NATO,
for example in Article I-40, paragraph 7: "In the execution
of closer cooperation on mutual defence, the participating Member
States shall work in close cooperation with the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation." This means that the fear that the
ratification of the EU constitution by non-NATO
members in fact means a "NATO membership light" is
not unjustified.
Council of ministers
decides on its own - no involvement of Parliament
The draft EU constitution stresses several times that the Council
of Ministers is alone responsible for EU military policy. Translated
into plain English, Article I-40 rules that the Council of Ministers
will take decisions on EU military operations. This is effectively
repeated in Article
III-198 paragraph 1: "Where the international situation
requires operational action by the Union, the Council of Ministers
shall adopt the necessary European decisions." The EU parliament
won't take part in this. Paragraph 8 of Article 40 says only
that the EU parliament shall be consulted regularly on the "main
aspects", and shall be kept informed on the development
"and basic choices of the common security and defence policy".
This is dealt with more precisely in Article 205 paragraph 1.
Paragraph 2 says: "The European
Parliament may ask questions of the Council of Ministers
and of the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs." But the
duty to inform parliament does not mean that parliament has
the right to make decisions.
Javier Solana's EU military
strategy: The EU as a military actor all over the world in a
multilateral system
On behalf of the EU's heads of government, Javier Solana, the
EU's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy,
drafted a paper on EU strategy in military matters. All EU heads
of government welcomed this military strategy paper at the EU
Summit in principle. "This paper proposes three strategic
objectives for the European Union. First, we can make a particular
contribution to stability and good governance in our immediate
neighbourhood. Second, more widely, we need to build an international
order based on effective multilateralism. Finally, we must tackle
the threats, new and old." For this, the European Union
mainly focuses on its (new) military strength: "As a Union
of 25 members, spending a total of 160 billion Euros on defence,
we should, if required, be able to sustain several operations
simultaneously. We need to develop a strategic culture that
fosters early, rapid, and when necessary, robust intervention."
"If we are serious about new threats and about creating
more flexible mobile forces we need to increase defence resources."
(Note: it doesn't say "if the new threats are serious",
it says "if we are serious about new threats..."!)
"In a world of global threats, global markets and global
media, our security and prosperity depend on an effective multilateral
system." Solana concludes: "This is a world in which
there are new dangers but also new opportunities. If it can
become a fully effective actor, the European Union has the potential
to make a major contribution, both to dealing with the threats
and to helping realise the opportunities. An active and capable
European Union would make an impact on a global scale. In doing
so, it would contribute to an effective multilateral system
leading to a fairer and more secure world." This is a call
to battle against the "unilateral world order" with
the USA as the single world power, as promoted by the US and
UK governments. The European Union is to become something like
the second world power in a "multilateral" world system!
The EU too wants to fight
"preventive wars"
The Solana paper also codifies the concept of preventive wars.
"In an era of globalisation, distant threats may be as
much a concern as those that are near at hand. Nuclear activities
in North Korea, nuclear risks in South Asia, and proliferation
in the Middle East are all of concern to Europe." And:
"Our traditional concept of self-defence - up to and including
the Cold War - was based on the threat of invasion. With the
new threats the first line of defence will often be abroad.
The new threats are dynamic. Left alone, they will become more
dangerous ... This implies that we should be ready to act before
a crisis occurs." This transfers the core element of the
USA National Security Strategy, also called the "Bush doctrine",
to Europe, and codifies it for the European Union. The bombing
campaign of the war against Iraq was a test for this concept
of preventive wars (see Financial Times Deutschland, 19 March 2003). By now, Western militaries
and governments seem to regard the preventive war concept as
a recipe for success. The wording of the preventive war concept
in Solana's paper shows that there is no difference between
the USA and the EU in terms of quality - there is in terms of
quantity - regarding their far-reaching military policy. Many,
including governments in "old Europe", like to criticise
the US government and its methods, but precisely these EU governments
- including the German social democrat/green coalition - very
much like to take these methods, such as the preventive war
concept, on board. They do this for example with the new EU
military strategy.
The fight for the good
in the world - or where is the problem, in the South or in the
West?
The Solana paper names the three main threats as seen by
EU governments: "Taking these different elements together
- terrorism committed to maximum violence, the availability
of weapons of mass destruction and the failure of state systems
- we could be confronted with a very radical threat indeed."
Only joint
action would help against those threats. The goal of EU policy
is stated openly and very clearly, even if you have to read
it several times to believe that it is really written into the
military strategy of the EU: "...Acting together, the European
Union and the United States can be a formidable force for good
in the world." Together for "good in the world",
against all "evil"? For whom this "good"
will be good is obvious. It all is about as much power, influence,
and economic expansion of Western states as possible. The Western
states agree on the core issues, with differences in details
(Iraq): more armament and the development of military forces
that are able to fight wars. The wars of the future will be
fought with permanently changing coalitions, and not everyone
will join in every time. But the wars will happen, against countries
and people in the South. The analysis which is behind the draft
EU constitution and the Solana paper sees the problem in the
South, in the "failed states". The draft EU constitution
explicitly codifies neo-liberal economic policy which leads
to pauperisation world-wide. Obviously, the problem is not in
the South but in the West. The policy of the Western states
has to be changed fundamentally. The present neo-liberal and
neo-imperialist policy of the EU states - two sides of the same
coin - should not be codified as part of the future constitution
of the European Union.
Proposal for a campaign
against the EU Constitution, to campaign against the militarisation
of the European Union
The Informationsstelle Militarisierung therefore proposes to
initiate a campaign against this European constitution. The
EU constitution is the result of a mistaken policy of the governments
of the European Union. Regarding the military, the EU draft
constitution is appalling, and this
constitution has to be opposed. A campaign against the EU constitution
could be set up by groups from the peace and anti-war movement,
from the anti-globalisation movement, groups working against
welfare cuts and those working with refugees. A campaign against
the EU constitution could be carried out in cooperation, across
borders, among groups from different EU countries. This draft
EU constitution is not a constitution for the people. This draft
EU constitution is not our constitution!
Sources
The draft European Constitution: http://www.european-convention.eu.int
European Commission: Opinion
of the Commission, pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaty on European
Union, on the Conference of representatives of the
Member States' governments convened to revise the Treaties,
17/09/03 http://ue.eu.int/igc/docs/st12654.en03.pdf
Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign
and Security Policy: A
Secure Europe in a Better World
http://ue.eu.int/pressdata/EN/reports/76255.pdf
Joshka Fischer: From Confederacy
to Federation - Thoughts on the finality of European integration,
12 May 2000, http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/eu_politik/ausgabe_archiv?suche=1&arch
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