Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Premessa. – 2. La politica di sicurezza nel Trattato di Amsterdam. – 3. Dalla svolta di Saint Malo al Consiglio di Colonia: i primi passi verso una politica europea in materia di sicurezza e di difesa. – 4. Dall’assorbimento dell’UEO all’assorbimento delle sue funzioni: la creazione di strutture militari dell’Unione. – 5. Il Trattato di Nizza e i successivi sviluppi. – 6. I problemi residui e le prospettive di evoluzione.

Abstract

This article examines the progress achieved on the Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESPD) from the Amsterdam Treaty to Göteborg Council. European Council meeting in Cologne on June 3 and 4, 1999 adopted its decision on “Strengthening the Common European Policy on Security and Defence”: the text emphasizes the need of European capabilities for autonomous action. Since Cologne, the European Union has been engaged in a process aiming at building the necessary means and capabilities which will allow it to take decision on, and to carry out, the full range of conflict prevention and crisis management tasks. So, at the Nice Summit all references to the Western European Union (WEU) – which provided the Union with access to an operational capability – were removed from article 17 of Title V of the Treaty on European Union. Actually, Member States decided to develop more effective military capabilities: by the year 2003, they will be able to deploy and then sustain forces capable of the full range of Petesberg tasks. The new CESPD poses the question of the relationship between EU and NATO and of their emerging cooperation. Also foreseen is an involvement of European NATO non-EU Countries in the implementation of the tasks with a defence dimension.